


Cake Batter and Oreos

by jakeryanscriminalprincess



Category: Dan Howell - Fandom, Danisnotonfire - Fandom, Team Internet, Youtubers, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Collaboration, Dan and Phil Radio Show, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Interns & Internships, Jacksgap - Freeform, Milkshakes are the best, Original Character(s), Rowing, Shipper!Phil, VidCon, YouTube, crew - Freeform, study abroad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-17
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-04-17 21:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 32,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4681334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakeryanscriminalprincess/pseuds/jakeryanscriminalprincess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A trip to London and a hankering for a milkshake is all it takes for Jordan Bohannon to meet her YouTube Idol and change her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A New Meaning of the Phrase "I Ran Into"

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fic over a year ago on a drive down to the beach and ever since my friend has been telling me to post it. Unless there's something that messes up my schedule like exams or holidays, I'll be posting every two weeks for the most part.
> 
> So, here's my attempt at writing fan fiction.

A week, she had been settled an entire week and she was still jet lagged.

Someone somewhere said you had a horrible perception of yourself, but  her exhaustion showed. If anything it showed in how sluggish she moved and the bland clothes she wore. At least, they seemed bland to her, they seemed like the go to style in London.

Maybe it was just the fact that it was the middle of winter, and maybe her jet lag wasn’t the sole reason for her fatigue. Her roommate had insisted they go to some New Year's party in the art building, guaranteed to be fun. She never missed an opportunity to ogle at all the boys in the dance program, even if 78 percent of them were gay (or some variant thereof). Being in crew and a Cinema Production major, she never really got out much. She thought it was a blessing Coach Ryan had let them have Christmas to New Year’s off.

Except her, she was allowed a bit longer.

Jordan Bohannon had been granted a study abroad opportunity for creative writing in London. Though she was not currently enrolled in the class, she had been when she applied, so they took her. She wouldn’t have taken if not a week earlier had she also been given an internship position at BBC. She barely even paid attention to the position. She could have been cleaning toilets and picking up used tissues, Jo would have taken the job because _it’s the BBC_. She had been hoping for that internship since freshman year of high school, the study abroad was more of a reason to convince her parents to let her go.

You’d think constant late nights would have prepared her for the sleep deprivation, but no. New Year’s at the art school means no sleep before realizing she had yet to have time to pack, trying to pack (while also keeping her now able to be legally drunk roommate in bed) and rushing to the airport for the near eight hour flight to London. She couldn’t even sleep then due to one flight attendant having their own little soap opera near the cabin, really, really loudly.

What do college kids do when they can’t sleep? Internet would be Jo’s first choice, tweak her Facebook profile or something. Except she hadn’t registered for Internet with her landlord yet.

So, instead, she ate.

It was the last day before the internship - and class - started. She had already found her office - if you could call it that - and found where most of her classes would be. The past week was dedicated to unpacking, personalizing the apartment, and finding edible food within walking distance of each location.

The temperature was at a freaking ridiculous number like 38 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s got to be negative 14 on the Celsius scale or something equally weird). That didn't matter, because had found Shake Away. Jo was definitely a milkshake girl and dubbed it her favorite place upon discovery. It being her favorite place had nothing to do with how she ran into one of her idols when she made the mad bolt for the door.

“Sorryexcusemesorry,” Jo rushed, reaching out to steady the poor soul she had barreled into.

“Oh, no, no, my fault; I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Wait. Jo recognized that voice. She spent a fair amount of her time  imitating it. Standing in front of her, looking characteristically embarrassed and uncomfortable, was Dan Howell.   

“No. No way. You’re Dan is not on fire,” she said with a sense of wonder before she could stop herself. If she could clap a hand over her mouth she would, but they were both occupied with gripping Dan’s arms and keeping him from falling over. Which he was no longer doing.

Jo quickly let go of him and took an appropriately large step back.

Dan had a brief look of panic in his eyes, before it was replaced with the slightly tired but pleasant smile. “Christ, sorry; I didn’t think I’d run into a subscriber.”

“No worries, it’s just I never thought I’d _ever_ run into you.” _Because you’re famous and that kind of stuff doesn’t happen to me_ , Jo added to herself.

“Well,” he laughed nervously. “You have.”

“Yeah,” she giggled.

She realized how true those words were when she noticed him try to discreetly rub his arm with the hand that held his drink. Great, now she was going to be the crazy fan that gave Dan a Charlie Horse. She gestured to the brightly colored shop Dan had been exiting. “So...any suggestions?”  

“Oh, uh-um...” (Jo decided this topic of conversation was not doing any favors to bring her into a less psychotic light.) “Well, this is butterscotch with white maltesers,” Dan said holding his cup slightly higher.

Jo sucked in air through her teeth like it pained her to be near to the offending drink. “I don’t know, I was going for something slightly more diabetes inducing. You think raw cookie dough will do the trick?”

Then, Dan honest-to-God laughed. Jo smiled like a freaking idiot, relieved that she was able to save the tragically awkward situation.

With her sarcasm and ability to not lose her mind upon talking to him, the ice was broken. Dan mumbled something that sounded like a question.

Jo cocked her head to the side trying to hear him over traffic. "What?"

"Are you American?" Dan asked her again.

“Yeah, first time outside the country, too.”

“It’s just you sound sort of British, so I wasn’t sure,” he said playing with his straw.

She was definitely kicking herself now for picking up the accent within a week. That’s got to be in the top five ways to annoy the British. 

1.) be American (check)

2.) Be American in the UK (check)

3.) Be American in the UK with a crappy second hand accent (check)

4.) Make tea in the microwave (she didn't drink tea)

5.) interrupt Doctor Who (which she would never do)

Interrupting her internal monologue, Dan asked her, “What are you doing in London?”

“Study abroad. And an internship.” She answered over exaggerating her normal way of speaking, as if to repress the hint of Brit Dan had detected. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. “Always wanted to come to London. Anyway, I didn’t mean to keep you. I really was just trying to get a milkshake,” Jo told him, maneuvering to open the door behind him.

“Oh, uh, they’re out of cookie dough,” Dan offered as he shuffled out of the way.

Jo gave him her biggest smile, dimples showing, eyes crinkling, and everything. “Guess I’ll have to get my diabetes some other way.”

“Yeah, I’ll, um.” Dan swallowed, attempting to walk back wards. “I’ll see you around?”

Jo hoped she wouldn’t be giving another chance to embarrass herself. “Yeah, maybe. Laters!”

Jo entered the Shake Away as quick as she could, hitting the door, tripped over her own foot, and then pretended to be engrossed with the menu. If she had chanced a look back outside, she would have seen Dan glance from her to the street to his phone and back before shaking himself of the idea to continue talking with her. Instead, he walked to where he was going to meet Louise for lunch.

But Jo didn’t dare a chance to look back, because she would have just stared. Especially since Dan had been the one to inspire her to start making YouTube videos. 


	2. Jo Talks About Dan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Proof that I'm not sure of what I'm doing: I thought the first chapter got posted two weeks ago.

She couldn’t remember how, but she knew she found Dan through his internet slang video. There had been two (much) more attractive and equally funny British boys in that video with him, but the video was on his channel so she naturally checked his stuff out first.

And now, some years later, she had just met her inspiration in real life and he had no idea the impact he had made.

That’s what she was kicking herself for most. She wouldn’t even be in London if it weren’t for him. Well, him and a few other people, but she wouldn’t have started vlogging - and by association her interest in film - if it weren’t for Dan. Seeing him think that he’s not important had always made her so sad and she had the perfect opportunity to tell him just how important he is. 

Who would have guessed she’d mess it up? Let’s see, everyone.

The angry internal monologue continued until Jo completed her walk back to her apartment. Stepping out of her converse – which are so not meant for the cold - Jo sucked up the last bit of her simple chocolate shake and tossed it into the garbage can. the straw was the only part to make it, the rest crashing onto the floor on the other side of it. She would clean it up later. 

Her back pack hit the floor with a clattering of pins. With her black athletic bag identical to every athlete in her school, Jo used the pins as identifiers. Some were just cute, but most were some flavor of nerd. Plus a one somewhat square one of the YouTube logo her mom had found.

Her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She was a bit let down when it wasn’t her new job, but, in fact, a reminder she had set for herself.

'Get everything ready for tomorrow.'

She padded around the small kitchen for about 15 minutes, not sure where to start. She was in the kitchen, she could make her lunch, but she knew her sandwich would get all nasty by the time she ate it. She definitely wanted to lay out her outfit last. She knew there were things to be done, much more than she remembered upon her phone buzzing, but instead she took out her small camera from the side flap of her backpack.

“Hey, guys, what’s up? Jo here. So, I know I’ve kind of neglected you, but the end of the first semester was really hectic, especially with that incorporative project. That dance teacher is super secretive. Wouldn’t be surprised if he was a Russian spy.” 

Jo found herself sliding down the wall to sit against it on the floor.. “Anyway, I just wanted to check in with you guys. Like actually check in and not show you my class projects.

“I’m in London, currently. Remember that jumpy video I showed you? Yeah, that was me freaking out over a job. Well, an internship. But it’s at BBC. I don’t know what for – I know I’m not on the film lot, because the company is picking up the rent for this place." Jo gave the camera brief turn around the kitchen/living area. "I’m really here because of study abroad. Yup, tomorrow I go to my first class. Maybe I’ll be over my jet lag by then.

“I wish I had been over it today. Because you will not believe what happened to me. I ran into danisnotonfire, literally. Yeah, just my luck. I wish I had a photo or a video or something to prove that I really did meet him, but to be honest I was way too embarrassed from nearly knocking him over to ask him for anything. I mean, how do you even bring that up in conversation? ‘Oh my gosh, sorry for nearly knocking you over, will you take a selfie with me?’” Jo laughed at herself. “That sounds really stupid out loud. I mean, look at me, after walking around the better part of northern London all day, I am sweaty and red faced. And dressed like a hobo, I might add.” She dipped the camera to her gray long sleeve. “Yeah, not exactly selfie material. I want to see him again because it’s Dan, but in all honesty, I’d probably just scare him if I haven’t already. Let’s see if I can’t get this video up before I’m forced asleep by my circadian rhythm, kay? I love you all, Laters!”

Editing in record time, it uploaded just before Jo went to sleep. She almost cut the entire bit about meeting Dan on the off chance he would some how find it and think she was crazy obsessed. Her subscriber count hovered just around 100, made up of friends and classmates from the art school so it wasn't likely. Her channel was where most of her quality film work went up after being turned in. Her teachers had tried to persuade her to create a Vimeo account for her “professional work”. She had stood firm that just as much effort went into her videos where she “messed around”. Her film projects were definitely where the views were at, though.

It was near midnight when Jo made herself shut off her phone and try to sleep. As London is five hours ahead of her normal time zone, there was many valiant attempts at forcing herself to sleep. Even if she was used to the time change (which she was getting there), Jo wouldn’t be able to sleep anyways. She would deny any such allegations, but she was nervous. What if her teachers were boring? Or if she didn’t find any classmates she liked? Crap, she didn’t lay out an outfit; what if she over slept and threw on an old shirt? She double checked that alarm was at full volume and a full hour before she needed to get up.

Settling back into bed, her mind was at the most peace it would be all night, so her brain decided to put her out of her misery and go the eff to sleep.


	3. Dan Talks About Jo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all! I'm so happy about the positive feed back I've been getting on the first few chapter. It's super rainy where I am so I'm all curled up in blankets. Enjoy the new chapter as I continue to figure out how AO3 works!

Dan went on with his day feeling a bit bizarre, kind of like he was under hypnosis. He imagines how the conversation with that fan a hundred times over. All throughout his time with Louise, retrieving his semi-lost game boy from the radio station, and when he returned home.

He was mumbling another scenario to himself when Phil interrupted him from the couch. “Hey, Dan?”

“What?” Dan asked, kind of startled out of his day dream.

“Should I post the t-shirt video? It’s not all that interestin’.” Phil scrutinized his laptop screen from behind his seldom worn glasses.

“Um, sure, why not? Your subscribers will find it funny,” Dan said, distracted.

He still had his Shake Away cup, although the drink hand long since been drunk. He had gotten it hours ago, even had to order a new drink when he had been with Louise for longer than he anticipated. Why did he still have the cup?

“You got Shake Away?” Phil asked, noticing the cup. “But it’s January!”

“It’s called a craving, Phil,” Dan sassed, finally tossing it in a bin. It was a strange feeling though, not having the cup anymore.

Predictably, Dan spent the next five or so hours on the Internet. He browsed through his Tumblr tag for almost 10 minutes before he scrolled past the sixth “Llama with Dan’s face on it” edit. He called that his limit and turned to stalking his friends on Twitter.

Aside from the latest YouTuber conversation (that he was not a part of), there wasn’t much happening, like nothing exciting had happened at all today.

He texted Phil, far too lazy to get up and find him. **Be honest, how awkward am I?**

Phill texted back a few moments later. **Not that awkward.**

**On a scale of 1 to 10?**

**I dunno, 6? :-/**

A six. Well, that’s not bad, but Dan knew Phil had a tendency to lie. He also knew that maybe the boy who once wore a t shit as pants for two months probably wasn’t the best judge of what’s considered normal.

Coming through the door unannounced, Phil caused Dan to jump. “Why? is there a problem?”

“Jesus Christ, Phil! Knock or something next time,” Dan complained.

“Dan, it’s the living room,” Phil deadpanned.

Settling back into his sofa crease, he noticed Phil looking at him expectantly. “Well,” He started. “It’s not really a problem; I just ran into a subscriber today.”

Phil smiled and adjusted his glasses. “Really? That’s great; you haven’t be recognized in a while.”

“Except I literally ran into her! And I was horrible at talking to her afterwards.” Dan groaned, his embarrassment resurfacing.

“Oh, it was a her,” Phil mocked. He knew that the last three encounters Dan had had were blokes who claimed to “recognize him from their daughters’ video thing”. Except none of them gave off even the slight air that anyone in their right mind would grant them a child.

“Oh, shut it.” If Dan wasn’t laying on them all, he would have thrown a pillow at Phil. “It’s just, this one is sticking with me more than usual…and I bet it’s because I’m awful at talking to random people.”

Phil leaned against the door jam and pointed at Dan. “You should make a video about that.”

Dan was confused. “About how I can only hold logical conversations with my camera?”

Phil looked offended at the idea, like he couldn’t imagine there was any shame in what Dan had just described. “No - about how this one experience is sticking with you.”

“And single out the poor girl?” Dan asked, incredulous. He set his laptop down on the cushion beside him and turned to face Phil as though he were the camera. “Oh yeah; ‘I nearly ran over a girl coming out of Shake Away today. I know it’s January, but we both apparently wanted our milkshakes and - BAM - collided. To that girl, I understand if you’ve unsubscribed. I’m sorry for getting my shake all over you, and I’m a horrible person.”

“You are not,” Phil drew out. He flicked his eyes away from Dan, almost like he was checking to see if anyone was listening. “So, was she really posh or something?”

“No, no,” Dan denied, shaking his head. “She was a subscriber, but she… seemed, I dunno, cool? She was American and she had really… _really_ blonde hair. I actually wanted to talk to her, but I was so awkward that she just had to leave. Oh, and there was a YouTube pin on her bag. I don’t know if that means she just likes watching YouTube or if she makes videos. I’m actually quite put off that I never got her name.”

Phil looked skeptical of what Dan had just said.

“What? Am I using that word to much? You can’t blame me; Awkward is the hash tag to describe my life.”

“You didn’t even get her name?” Phil seemed to judge.

“No, she was too busy fleeing,” Dan answered waving his hands like he was swatting at bees.

Dan had taken up his laptop again and tried to get interested in whatever this thing on his timeline was. Phil just shrugged, “Well, you’ll probably not see her again if she’s from America.”

Dan groaned and dropped his head against the wall with a heavy sounding thunk. “Ow.” He stated, not moving from his position of injury. “She’s American, but she’s living in the UK. She’s studying abroad, and has an internship.”

Phil’s eyes popped for a minute before settling into a look that was half astonished and half amused. “So, you know that she’s a danosaur-“

“She never said danosaur,” Dan interrupted, pointing a finger at his at his best friend.

Phil ignored him and continued. “-from America who’s here on study abroad, that she has an internship and could possibly make video’s for YouTube based on a pin you saw on her bag, but you didn’t even ask for her name?”

“Everything just came up in conversation!” Dan protested.

“I thought you said you had a horrible conversation,” Phil laughed at Dan’s exasperated tone.

“We did! She just…talked…a lot,” Dan mumbled the last part. He now realized maybe the conversation wasn’t as awkward – there he goes with that word again, he’s going to need a new word – as he had made it out to be.

Maybe the girl had just wanted to leave because she was tired. She had a nice gleam in her eye when she talked, like she was excited to, but there was a level of exhaustion behind everything she said. Personally, Dan was even more antisocial when he fatigued or annoyed. Maybe he had just caught her at a bad time.

But then again that could have been his imagination remembering things differently. She could be talking about how weird and awk – _goddammit_ – disjointed he was (there, that’s a good word, right?) online. With any luck, London would live up to it’s full population and he wouldn’t be granted the opportunity to embarrass himself agin.

The conversation dropped off and Phil offered to make diner. They both agreed on stir-fry.


	4. What She Came Here For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seeing as Jo is in London for study abroad, I think it only fair we see her actually go to class and not just bulldoze a beloved Internet personality.

Jo’s alarm went off. Her alarm kept going until she raised a hand to shut it off. Almost like she had known exactly what she was going to do, a reminder popped up.

She buried her face in her pillow and burrowed down into the nest that her blankets had created for her in the night. She was finally able to fall into a deep enough sleep to feel well rested, and then she had to go and use an alarm. 6:45 was way too early for a 9 am class.

**Get up, lazy, it’s the first day of class**

She made some unintelligible noise. 

Getting ready was alright, aided by her alarm which she kept going just to annoy herself into alertness. With everything laid out the night before, she really didn’t need the extra hour she had set aside to get her look exactly right. Now, granted, combing out her mess of hair and finally deciding to straighten it had taken some time. 

She did end up using the entire hour, with fifteen minutes dedicated to trying get herself to stop sweating from using the straightening iron. Most of it, though, was fussing over little things, like the dried piece of skin on her lip or those three hairs that downright refused to go the other way. After what felt like half a day, Jo stuffed her dinner sack in her bag where it joined a notebook, some supplies, and whatever she thought she’d need at her internship. 

London streets felt like a large school hallway as Jo made her way to her class. Plenty of people carried back packs instead of messenger bags and overly large purses she saw all over her campus at home. However, she did seem to be the only one to decorate hers, making her a bit insecure about the amount of jangling noises she made (which was a lot).

She noticed the crowd thinned when she entered the building that was called the “campus”. Only a few students lingered in the hall ways. Most people Jo looked to were hurriedly entering one classroom or another, like passing time didn’t exist. Upon entering her own classroom, she realized why: the hallways were not insulated and no one inside the school had been wearing a jacket.

In the same puffy, pink vest she had worn the day before, Jo had yet another thing drawing attention to her. She scowled at herself.

Not looking at the students already seated, Jo choose her place on the left side of the room about half way up the stairs and about six seats in. The whole area was vacant which made it very obvious when she tripped over the row's corner seat. Her attempted recovery was to just take that seat. 

Luckily, it didn’t stay vacant for long. The class filled up enough that Jo wondered how they had room for study abroad students. she also wonder what about the class made it so popular.

A pluckish looking boy sat down in front of Jo and a whole squad of meticulously manicured girls filled up the row behind her. There was a group at the end of her row, but on her side of the class, no one sat near her. Jo began to think that she had maybe had chosen the dead space on the row. Then, exactly two minutes before class was supposed to start, the tiniest girl you could have imagined claimed her seat, two away from Jo.

Even half way around the world, Jo could spot a cox.

She took in the girl. She still wore her hat and all her layers of cold gear, but was slowly starting to strip them off in the coziness of the room.

Distracted by such a familiar sight, Jo didn’t even notice the professor had entered the room until he called for the murmurs to stop. He was either a damn good teacher or everyone shared the same mind because the room got almost deathly quiet. Jo was quiet mainly because her class on creative writing was being taught by John Green.

Or so she thought until she realized that his voice was much to deep and his button up was one button off. Oh, yeah, and his nose was outrageously big.

“Hello,” the professor began. “My name is Richard Teslerra and I’m the professor for creative writing. Obviously.” Jo would be lying is she said he didn’t sound like Alan Rickman when he said ‘obviously’. 

Only one person laughed at the professors attempt at humor - the little coxswain.

“Glad to see somebody appreciates my jokes,” Professor Teslerra smiled. “What’s your name, darling?”

“Beck Colberg,” she piped up.

The professor nodded. “You and I will get along just fine, Beck.” Sticking his hands in his pockets and meandering to the other side of the presenting space, he asked the class. “If Beck laughs at my jokes, what does that make her?”

Everyone looked around to see if anyone had the answer. Apparently no one did.

“You, in the purple jumper,” he said, singling Jo out.

After a moment of consideration, Jo hazard a guess. “The teacher’s pet?” It might've come out as a question, though she was confident she was right.

Teslerra’s glowing praise – after asking her name, of course - continued into the first lesson which apparently was Teslerra’s favorite to teach.

Jo heard a soft ‘hey’ coming from her right. It was Beck.

“You think I’m a teacher’s pet?”

Jo looked back to the bored, before hunching closer and whispering, “No, but he had the word ‘stereotypes’ written above his head.”

“How did you know I’m not just the giggly girl that is way too happy?”

Jo smiled slyly before replying, “Two things: you laughed at the _teacher’s_ joke, and you’re a coxswain that just got off the water in January, of course you’re not happy.”

Beck seemed impressed by Jo’s power of induction, but was quick to point out that it was entirely too cold to row, being below 7 degrees Celsius and windy and all. Jo just smiled like she knew what Beck was talking about before asking her how her hair and face we completely wet then.

“Melting icicles waiting for the bus,” Beck explained.

“Jo,” Teslerra interrupted their side conversation. “What is Beck doing now that would break the teacher’s pet stereotype?”

“Talking in class,” Jo admitted, a little embarrassed at being called out.

“What should she be doing instead?” He seemed to be asking the class, but Jo responded.

“Hanging on your every word.”

“As you should be,” he told them, returning to his maybe a diagram maybe an abstract painting of a high school cafeteria on the board.

After exchanging looks, Jo and Beck tried not to giggle. After that, they were quiet and Jo realized that Professor Teslerra was actually a good teacher. She decided his charismatic teaching style was the reason for the class's full roster. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coxswain - A, typically small, person who sits at the back of a racing shell(boat) who steers and provides motivation, moral, and direction for rowers. Also known as "Coxie" or "Cox".
> 
> Also, I made a Tumblr where I can post fan fiction related things. I mean, right now, it's a lot of Dan and Phil at the moment, but what can you do? You can give me a follow if you want: http://jakeryan-scriminalprincess.tumblr.com


	5. The Actual Reason Jo Wants to be in London

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Jo's fellow interns!

After her creative writing lecture, her other two classes (World History and Economies, and some sort of math class that she would never be able to distinguish which kind of math they were studying) were a serious let down.

Once again, it would be lying to say Jo wasn’t paranoid that she would run into somebody (read: Daniel freakin' Howell) as she bought a slice of pizza for lunch. She didn’t run into anybody, but she did nearly dropped it almost immediately after being handed her meal in a box.

She killed two hours in the school’s main lobby - it had Wi-Fi despite the poor insulation. She was lost in a sea of reblogs and gifs before she noticed she hould start the trek to her new place of business.

Her internship was being held in a rented building within 20 minutes from the school. Once there, she was directed to an abnormally small meeting room on the second floor. There wasn’t much space between the walls and the table, but Jo was able to maneuver herself around to the back corner. She thought it was only courteous, as the first one to arrive, that she take the seat most difficult to get to.

One by one more young looking people peeked into the room. Everyone exchanged awkward hellos, but pretty much sat in silence until a staff member poked their head in the door. “You the new interns?”

“Yes,” they all responded. Not that Jo wouldn’t pick up on it until much later, but her voice was not the only one to lack a British accent.

“Great,” the employee said entering the room. “I’ll be partially supervising you all. My name is Eleanor, Eleanor Kimmel, and I’m here to make sure your internship goes smooth. I’m also the one who signs your paychecks.” She laughed at her own joke. Jo and her fellow interns smiled uncomfortably. “Samantha will be doing most of the supervising, telling you what needs to be done and whatnot. I just wanted to introduce myself before she got here.”

There was an awfully long silence before Eleanor suggested that we all introduce ourselves.

There was a girl named Bristol from Cambridge, a boy named Cameron who sometimes operated the London Eye, another boy named Benjamin who recently moved from Dublin, and another foreign girl name Tukana who told everyone to just call her Kiki. Then another woman with darker hair and a louder voice appeared in the room. This woman was to be Jo’s boss for the months to come.

“Well, what do we got here?” She said surveying the room. Her loud voice echoed and put a look of slight terror on everyone’s face. “Have you all gotten to know each other?”

“Yes,” They all responded like school children.

“Okay, good. My name is Samantha Chris – you can call me Sam - and you’ve already met Eleanor. I hope you all feel very lucky to be here, especially those of you not from around here.”

Sam went on to explain the ideals and mission of the BBC in a speech that sounded like someone wrote it for her and just added in sentences here or there. After that, she answered some general questions from the group. They were pretty generic and probably could have been figured out on their own, until Bristol asked why each of them were chosen. Though Jo herself was curious, she thought it almost sounded rude to ask, almost like asking what a person’s paycheck entailed. Sam did not think the same and, apparently, had a good memory. She went around the table telling each of the four why they were accepted.

Bristol had been the social media coordinator for a local business since it’s opening when she was 13, Cameron was the closet thing Keswick had to a mechanical prodigy, Benjamin was a college kid on a Broadcast Journalism scholarship with impressive marks, and Kiki was a tech guru.

Jo raised her hand slightly. “And me?”

Sam looked at Jo as though she didn’t expect her to be there. “Your name is…?”

“Jordan, she said to call her Jo,” Kiki supplied for her. The little Japanese girl gave Jo a very quiet smile across the table.

“Oh, yes, Jordan Bohannon. Your work on your high school newspaper website was very well done,” Sam said. Jo wasn’t about to argue, though she felt had a lot of personal evidence on the contrary. “You and Bristol will be working on our social media team.”

“Social media team for what?” Jo inquired after a moment’s hesitation.

Rather than answer, Sam just spun her laptop around. Her screen saver was an email. It read ‘good news: OB is on for a fifth season; you’re not done yet.’”

“What’s OB?” Bristol asked, sounding every bit as snobbish as you imaginer her to be with a name like Bristol.

“Orphan Black."

Now, Jo was the major fan girl around her house, but with her mom’s discovery of Orphan Black, it left her dad to be the only Bohannon unimpressed by anything fictional. He often shook his head when Jo went on rants about this character and that story line and even left in the middle of one. Jo hadn’t realized she was talking to a wall until she looked up from her computer screen. Jo’s mom was a bit more subdued, but she loudly shushed anyone talking while she watched and took over clicker control when she knew she had an episode recorded. Jo’s Mom should just about die when she hears Jo will be working with anything related to her favorite TV show, and Jo couldn’t wait to tell her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all have a Happy Halloween! May you eat lots of candy and your costume not fall apart half way through the night.


	6. The Impossible Invitation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That title sounds like a Sherlock investigation, but it's not, I swear.

“Hey, you forgot your phone!” Jo called after the departing group.

One or two of them turned to see her holding a black phone over her head. The one guy who turned – he looked familiar – called out to one of the men walking away. Upon seeing Jo with the phone, the second man smacked his pockets. Realizing it they were empty, he jogged back to where Jo stood outside the café.

“Thank you so much; it would have been awful to lose it on my birthday,” He said, taking the phone from her.

“Oh, no, that would have been horrible! ,” Jo responded in that semi-fake conversation-with-a-stranger voice.

He paused just before sliding it into his pocket. “Hey, we’re all going to Mally’s pub on Northumberland to celebrate. You wanna come along? Charly needs the company.”

There was a lot of information thrown at her, to which Jo intelligently replied: “Excuse me?”

“I mean, Carrie was supposed to show up but got sick this morning. Too many shows,” He smiled. After another moment of silence from Jo, he stood straighter and began again. “Let’s try this: my name is Harry Tschmecky and I am celebrating my 25th birthday. As payment for returning my mobile, I insist you join in our revelry. Also, one of the existing party goers would be very grateful as she is currently the only woman.”

She gave a short nervous laugh before taking a chance, when in Rome...er, London. “Why not?”

Jo joined the small group of bundled people. She let Harry introduce everyone after first telling him her name as they approached.

“Guys, This is Jo and she is going to join us as thanks for returning my mobile.” There was a few waves and a couple greetings. “Jo, this is Charly, Chris, Finn, Dan and Phil.”

Jo’s eyebrows shot up when she realized who she had agreed to celebrate with. The guy who had halted the group was Chris Kendall, or as Jo (kinda) knew him, crabstickz. Then, Finn was Finn Harries of Jacksgap (where Charly had been featured). Then came the last pair and Jo nearly squealed of excitement, surprise, and mortification. The immortal friends, Dan and Phil, were standing across the circle from her.

Jo hoped her eyes didn’t bug out of her head too much to give away that she already knew all of them. Except the guy who had invited her along - Harry - he must be the token not-on-YouTuber friend.

Jo wasn’t sure if it was who they were, or just the fact that they were so much taller than her, but she easily gravitated towards Charly. They all followed Harry down the streets of London, walking in a near pyramid. Harry, of course, was in front, then Charly and Jo, and the remaining four walked in a cluster behind the girls.

Finn and Phil talked across the silent Dan, because holy fuck there was the girl who he had run into not two days prior. He just had his jaw clenched and eyes wide looking at the mass of blonde walking in front of him. She had a lot more hair than he thought she had had when he saw her the first time. 

Jo and Charly didn’t exactly talk on the way to the pub, but it wasn’t a weird silence . Charly was definitely thankful to have another source of estrogen. Jo was glad as well, finding comfort in Charly's presence.

Jo was happy albeit weirded out that she accepted the impromptu invitation. Her giddiness lasted until they reached the pub doors. “Um…”

“What’s the matter?” Charly asked concerned.

“I can’t get in,” Jo said pulling up sort on the side walk. Dan nearly ran into her again (not that she would ever know it).

They seemed like the strangest set of words. “What do you mean you can’t get in?”

“I’m only 19.”

“Only?” Charly asked sarcastically. “You’re fine, c’mon.” Charly tugged her past the unmanned door and to the back of the room where Harry had claimed them one of those high tables. Were Jo two inches shorter than her 5’5” height, she may have had to jump to get in the seat. She stretched on her toes to be able to slide onto her seat of choice on the opposite end from Dan and Phil.

After everyone was seated, Finn offered to pick up a round of beers from the bar.

“Why did you think you couldn’t get in?” Chaly asked finally settled in her seat.

“I’m only 19,” Jo answered. “Isn’t the drinking age 21?”

Harry snorted. “No. You can drink at five if your parents give it to you. Where is it 21?”

“I thought it was everywhere,” Jo said, fiddling with a drink coaster, not looking at anything in particular.

“Where are you from?” Harry asked across the table.

“Virginia. It's in America.”

“So, you are American,” Harry decided. “I couldn’t tell.”

“Oh, don’t tell me I have a British accent already.” Jo looked to Charly for an answer, “I’ve only been here a week and half.”

“No, you don’t have an accent, it’s just the way you talk, feels British,” She assured her.

Harry cross his arms and leaned on the table. “Why are you in London?”

“I’m studying abroad.” Jo wished she could give better answers, but they were asking simple questions. The inquisition continued until Finn returned carrying five beers in his hands and a water bottle under his arm. He handed the water bottle to Charly and slid the beers towards the others in the group.

“Wait, guys, she’s from America,” Harry announced. “Have you had alcohol before?”

Jo shook her head. It was true. Well, mostly true, but a sip of the art seniors' wine at their more sophisticated parties didn't mean much in the way of drinking.

“Bottoms up!”

The boys looked at her expectantly. Let it be known she knew it was a bad idea.

She sipped at the golden liquid in the tall glass before her.

And instantly made a face. Everyone at the table laughed. Charly offered her a sip from her water bottle to get rid of the bitter taste.

They all continued to ask Jo questions, like what she was studying abroad, how different London was from DC, and what she did for fun. Occasionally the conversation would break away on a story from one of the other’s, but when that topic died, it was back to Jo.

Well, almost everyone was asking Jo questions. Dan was trying his best to stay hidden from the girl that sat on the other side of Phil. Jo was telling them about how she was applying for her uni’s art school when Phil asked Dan why he was being so quiet. (Yes, he’s quiet with strangers, but he knew all but one person there.)

"That's her," Dan said to the floor.

"Her who?" Phil asked.

"Jo. She's the one subscriber I ran into the other day." Dan was mortified. And Phil found it hilarious. His giggles attracting the attention of everyone at the table.

"Whatchya laughin' at Phil?" Finn asked, laughing himself.

Unnoticed by the group, Dan gave Phil a pleading look. Tempting as it was, Phil did not expose Dan’s-Awful-Fan-Meeting featuring Jo. "I, uh, was just thinking if your awesome moves in India," Phil covered semi-smoothly, pulling some obscure rid-bit of information from the recesses of his mind.

Finn voiced the confusion of the group. "My what?"

There was a tiny gasp at the end of the table. "The Rickshaw Run!" Jo said excitedly. "One of the rickshaws needed a new carburetor so you guys were dancing in front of a bunch of locals. It was pretty funny," Jo finished lamely.

After a minute, it clicked. "Oh, yeah," Finn drew out. "How did you remember it and I not? I was there!"

"The Rickshaw Run is pretty much my favorite short film...behind _Eu Nao Quero Voltar Sozinho_ ," Jo admitted sheepishly. "I always laugh there because I can practically hear the locals think 'What are these crazy white people doing?'"

Finn let out the loudest laughing streak, which became contagious. Both Jo and Dan were thankful for the cover to their embarrassment.

"Well, then, I insist on showing you exactly what the crazy white people were doing," Finn got up and walked around the table. He offered his hand to Jo - who was only able to look him in the eye dude to the height of the chair. "I, Finn, invite you, Jo, to the miserable dance floor in the corner. Any one else is welcome to join as well," Finn said to the group.

Miserable it was. Jo wasn't even sure if it was a dance floor or a bit of clear floor space near speakers that were assuredly too large for that particular bar. Jo, Finn, Harry, and Chris took up the entire space, save for a couple attempting to slow dance. It didn't work out very well.

The boys freaked out over a song playing and began to jump around. Jo joined in a moment later first marveling at how she was dancing in a pub with two YouTubers and one of their bros that seemed to be very into her. In fact, Harry tried his hardest to dance with Jo alone.

He wasn't all that coordinated, though. None of the boys were, having actually drunk their glasses of beer. Jo had passed her’s to Harry after discovering she hated the taste. He had drunk a massive gulp from it before following Finn and her to dance. Still, Jo had a hunch that sober Harry wasn't much of a dancer either. 

They all danced ridiculously, and there was a lot of laughing that echoed back to the table. There wasn't a lot of conversation going on there, so Dan just sipped his beer, more for something to do and less because he wanted to, and watched Jo.

He envied her ability to pretend like they had never met before. He also envied Finn and Harry's ability to converse freely with her. Christ, Harry had invited her to celebrate his birthday just for returning his phone, and she said yes.

After a couple of song changes, Charly slid out of her chair an explained that she was going to say good bye. Dan and Phil waved her off.

On the dance floor, Harry was attempting to get close to Jo, but she moved too much. Charly chuckled at her obliviousness to Harry's advances. It’s not that Jo was oblivious, she just thought if she ignored it, he would get the message.

She tapped Jo on the shoulder. Charly attempted to talk over the music, "You said you're new here; I want to get your number so you have someone to hang out with." When Jo couldn't hear her over the very near speakers, she just held up her phone with a blank contact card. The first name was already filled out.

Jo's wide smile bloomed; she couldn't believe that she was making friends.

After Jo typed in her last name and number, Charly gave Harry a big hug and left. Feeling tired herself - not from dancing, just from it being so late - Jo poked Finn in the arm and waved bye to him and Chris. She more or less snuck away from Harry. She had an early start at OB the next morning so she figured should get going anyways. She would probably spend the next half and hour trying to find her apartment, too. Jo returned to the table to grab her coat and back pack from under her seat.

"You're leaving?" Phil asked her. He seemed disappointed.

"Um, yeah," Jo said, now fully aware she was talking to AmazingPhil, who was basically danisnotonfire if he was always happy.

Speaking of Dan, he was sort of perched on his chair and definitely not looking at her by looking at the clock or the door. Jo tried not to stare, her complete blunder two days ago still embarrassed her.

"I just need to find my way back to my apartment." 

"Well, where do you live?" Phil asked.

Jo knew he was just being helpful, but, oh gosh, what if they lived near each other? Would that seem stalkery? It would definitely mortify her if she knew she'd have to interact with Dan on a daily basis; her embarrassment would never die. She hoped they would just tell her how to get home and not think anything of it.

Once she rattled off her address, Dan spoke directly to her for the first time that evening. “I know where that is, you can see it from here, if you know where to look.”

“Really?” Jo doubted it, she felt so far from the streets she had worked to memorize.

“Yeah, I can show you,” Dan said sliding from his chair. Jo tried not to laugh when his own vest got caught on the back and almost knocked it over.

She followed Dan through the crowd to the pub front. She almost got separated from him a few times, but resisted reaching out to grab on to him like she would with any one else. She had a slight fear he would evaporate or something.

About then, Jo realized that he probably didn’t even remember their encounter. She was practically a different person tonight then when he first met her. For one, she didn’t stick her foot in her mouth (which was remarkable in itself). Then, she was actually dressed presentably rather than sleep deprived. Finally, she hadn’t nearly flattened him in efforts to get a darn milkshake. See? Completely different person. 

Once on the sidewalk, Dan raised a hand and pointed between squashed buildings. There was only a piece of the building showing, but there was her building. 

“Huh, would you look at that,” Jo said aloud.

“If you walk a block up that street” – Dan pointed to a street across the way – “and cut across the park, then you should get home in twenty minutes or so.”

As he looked towards the place where he was directing her, Jo took a short survey of Dan. It looked like the Dan she had watched on the Internet, definitely awkward and clumsy enough at times, but there was another element that made her doubt that she was really meeting the Internet cult leader. Perhaps she had just gotten over being star struck the first time she met him.

Tucking that thought away, Jo adverted her eyes and avoided making eye contact when Dan turned back to face her. “Oh, well, thank you.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Dan brushed off her praise..

“Well, bye,” Jo gave a small wave before heading off in the direction Dan had pointed to, sticking in her ear buds so she didn’t hear Dan say ‘Goodnight’. When she got level with the first turn, Dan returned to the table in the back of the pub.

“Maybe Dan knows,” Dan heard Chris say as he approached the table.

Dan took up his seat again. “'Maybe Dan knows' what?”

Finn held up something that looked like a small sock. “I found it on the ground under the table.”

Pulling on the cord that stuck out of the sock, revealed some sort of electronic. After a moment of inspection, Chris dubbed it a camera. Putting the carrying case on the table, he turned the camera on. The screen flashed the word ‘Bloggie’ before showing the table in front of the lens. The controls were touch screen, so it took a few moments of poking around to find the saved photos. Finn reached over and poked at the last one, whose thumbnail looked like granite countertops.

Soon, the camera turned around and they all saw who was holding it. The recorder’s voice was loud enough for the small group to hear it. It wouldn’t have mattered though, as soon as the face came into frame, they recognized it.

“It’s Jo’s!” Phil sounded very excited to make the announcement. The video Jo had shot in her kitchen was playing out on the tiny screen.

“Oh, shit,” Dan said after a moment, grabbing up the camera and the sock case before pushing his way back to the front of the pub.

Dan popped out onto the pavement and raced a few steps towards the street he had told her to travel down…until he realize he had accidentally sent Jo south of her flat. If she had an accurate idea of how well she dealt with English streets, she would be lost for another 15 minutes before finding her way. Dan considered going to the building and leaving it there for her, but what if she didn’t know it was missing? She wouldn’t think to check the front desk, so he would have to wait for her. No, no, he was not being label a stalker along with whatever else she associated with him; the Awkward Stalker was not an epithet he was confortable with.

So, Dan returned to the table. “She’s gone.”

“We could take it to her apartment, since you know where it is,” Phil offered before taking the final sip of his drink.

“You do?” Harry asked in disbelief, eyes squinting just a bit. “Have you been there before?”

“What? No, no, I just pointed her in the direction of her flat. She’s only been here a week, Harry; she doesn’t know her way around yet.”

“It’s a wonder she hasn’t gotten an oyster card,” Chris commented. “She seems to go all over the city. Maybe you’ll run into her again and you can return her camera then.”

“Am I the only one that thinks that airs on the side of creepy?” Dan asked, pocketing the camera anyway. Yes, Dan decided, it was definitely creepy to carry around the camera of someone in hopes of running into her again. But he couldn't think of anything better.

“Charly got her phone number,” Harry said from behind the rim of his third glass, almost like he didn’t want it to be heard.

“There you go,” Finn exclaimed. “I’ll tell Charly to call Jo and tell her we have her camera.”

Before Finn could get his phone one, Dan was protesting. “Don’t call, she’s probably home now, and it’s late.”

Looking out towards the door so he wouldn’t have to deal with any of his friends looking at him, Dan decided, “I’ll get it to her tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: It's not the smartest thing in the world for Jo to have gone to a pub with complete strangers in a part of town she doesn't know. Be smart and don't do that ... (without a buddy).


	7. Phil Shipped It Before All of You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend demanded I call this chapter that, so enjoy!

Jo ended up getting home in the 20 minutes Dan had said. The street he had pointed her down was under construction and blocked for traffic and pedestrians, so she ended up taking the correct way home.

She sat at her ‘desk’ at the OB building the next day thinking of last night. In the ways of actually being a desk, this space sorely lacked. It was the meeting room all the interns had initially gathered in. That meant the seats they all had taken that first day were kind of their seats. Jo was seated in the corner and just found it easier to be the first one to get there, plus, she was the only one who passed a coffeshop on the way to work. She herself never had coffee, but the left over money the rest of the interns gave her to buy said coffee she used to buy herself a nice bagel. When the other interns showed up, there was always a tray of their drinks sitting in the middle.

Kiki, turns out, is a master of coding and had even won an award for it in some competition or another. That’s where the nickname came from; it mimiced the sound of a keyboard. She was revamping the websites and creating new widgets and things for the fans to use.

Bristol was to help monitor coverage over the shows’ social media sites and report back on how the fans were feeling. ‘Queen of hash tags’ Jo had jokingly called her one day.

Cameron fiddled with the broken computers and mini fridge’s of the building. He sat near the door because he constantly had to be sent to another part of the building to fix something too big to be brought to him.

Benjamin and Jo were used for various tasks all over the building, but seeing as they sat in the back corner, they rarely wanted to get up, so they mostly dealt with things over email. Every so often one would look up and sigh to the other or ask if they had dealt with a similar issue before or not. It left a lot of time for derping around on the Internet, totally not checking social media for mentions of her by anyone from the pub. 

So ridiculously noticeable, Jo saw Benjamin lean over to see what her screen had on it and then flipping to the same site.

“It’s Blondie with a 13 for the B,” Jo told him quietly.

A few more clicks of his keyboard and Jo saw she had a new notification: _Benjamin Brownstone (@BenBJAMIN) started following you._

She gave a small smile and gave a short, musing laugh. Benjamin seemed please with himself, though. Jo followed him back and they immediately had a sub tweet Twitter War of Ridiculousness. Nothing that harsh, though, because Jo liked Ben the most, with Kiki being a close second. That’s only because Benjamin actually knew what _The Breakfast Club_ was.

It was around 11 the next day before Charly texted Jo. There was no name and all it said was ‘Dan has your camera’, which sounds like a ransom note, but she realize the sentence had an unspoken ‘btw’ at the end. the next text she received told her it was Charly.

**Really? How did he get it?**

**You left it at the pub. It must have fallen out of your backpack.**

Charly must have felt the need to keep the wording as true as possible, because she sent:

 **Well, he didn’t find it; Finn did. He’s the one that called me and said to tell you.** Right after her first response.

Jo was majorly confused. **Then why does Dan have it?**

**Maybe the boys figured if any of them saw you again it would be him.**

Oh, crap. Did they know about the incident at Shake Away? Was the party really just a big set up to poke fun at her? Jo didn’t have time to worry about that though, she needed her camera back.

**Oh, well, I’m at work right now, I get off in an hour or so, is there a place he’d want to meet me?**

**I don’t know, I’ll ask Finn.**

“We’re playing telephone over text,” Jo mused to herself.

She hadn't realized she said it out loud until Kiki spoke up. “What was that?” Kiki asked, removing her giant headphones that were the definition of ‘Cans’.

Oh, how to begin to explain Jo’s situation? “Oh, just texting a few…friends and a couple of us don’t have each other’s numbers so we’re sending messages via mutual friend.” It felt very strange to consider any one of them friends when the entire experience felt more like a day dream Jo had kept at because she was bored.

**Dan told Finn it’s okay if you want to stop by the aapartment.**

**Address?** Jo typed before she could lose her nerve.

If there was one thing to be said about Charly it’s that she’s short. But if you had to say another thing it was that she was a good texter. She didn’t seem fluent in emoji’s but she was fast and to the point, which was what this situation called for. Jo thanked Charly for the address to Dan and Phil’s place and told her she had to get back to work. A lie, but a true conversation required emoji’s.

Jo worried for an hour about the condition of her Bloggie – it was on a bar floor for heaven knows how long, a bar floor! – and the condition she was in to again meet Dan.

When Sam came by at noon and told them to leave, Jo moved slower than normal. Or, at least she thought she did, until she realized she already had all of her stuff packed up and then would have to wait for Bristol and Cameron to pack their stuff, stand up, and so she could squeeze behind their chairs.

She dawdled a little in getting something to eat at a pizzeria, but it wasn’t exactly you wanted to sit down and enjoy a meal at, so she took it to go. She wandered around, eating her pizza and looking for ‘the building with a yellow roof’ as had been Charly’s helpful tip.

Jo threw the remains of her lunch and a used napkin into the trash bin before double checking her appearance in her phone’s camera and knocking on the door.

Phil answered (maybe a little too quickly) and instantly invited Jo upstairs. It was so bizarre, stepping into a place that was always kept so out of reach for fans of the duo. It was like entering a fairytale dimension.

She was beginning to see what Dan was saying in his house tour about all the stairs when they reached the level with the kitchen.

“Would you like some tea?” Phil offer, gesturing to the kitchen.

Well, it wasn’t Phil with whom she had had the awkward encounter…"Sure, but I’ve never had tea before.”

“You’ve never had tea?!” Phil near screeched. “I’ll be fixing that.”

“I warn you: I’ve never had a taste for anything that wasn’t sweet.”

“That’s okay,” Phil said pulling out a small box from the cupboard. “We have sassafras.” Phil waved the little box of extremely sweet tea like a taunt.

Jo felt so weird just standing there, but in all honesty she didn’t have anything to say to Phil at the moment. She wanted to ask why she didn’t hear Phil come down that first set of stairs to answer the door, almost like he had been waiting behind the door for her, but there was no way she was going to become weirder than they already thought of her.

The tea was in the kettle and almost ready when footsteps sounded from the hall. The footsteps were accompanied by a voice.

“I don’t understand why you wanted me to dress nice, Phil, it’s not like either of us are filming today.”

Dan appeared and ran into the glass door. He didn’t even sound hurt, just annoyed. “I swear one day I will just break the damn door so I don’t have to deal with it any more,” he said from the other side of the glass.

Dan pushed the door open with one hand while holding on to his injured nose with the other, covering most of his face in the process.

Removing the kettle from the stove, Phil addressed his roommate. “Dan.”

An annoyed “What?” came from behind the hand.

“Jo’s here.”

Dan’s head flew out of his hand and he looked at Phil like he said the Backstreet boys had all died. “Jo is-” Then Dan noticed the person they were talking about tucked away in the corner. “In our kitchen, apparently.”

Jo raised her hand and twitched her fingers in a sort of half wave. “Hello.”

“Hi,” Dan said with a smile that read I’m-sorry-you-had-to-see-me-run-into-a-door.

“She came to get her camera and I invited her in for a drink,” Phil said retrieving three mugs from the cupboard.

“Oh, did you now?” Dan probably meant it to sound innocent, but his sass shown through and it became more accusatory.

“Yup,” Phil said pouring himself a cup. “Why don’t you guys go get Jo’s camera and by the time you get back down here, the tea will be cooled?”

“Alright,” Jo instantly responded. It seemed like a good idea to her, the quickest way out.

Dan didn’t say anything and left the kitchen without checking to see if he was being followed or not. In all honesty, he was hoping for the latter, but he was not given his wish. He was breathing relatively heavy when he reached his bedroom door and just behind him he heard Jo.

“You really weren’t kidding about those stairs,” Jo said, not the least bit winded.

“It’s mental - who designs a house like this?” Dan asked and pushed into his bedroom. It was neater than Jo had expected, but there were still piles of untidiness pushed up against the furniture and the walls.

Dan had to search the piles in an attempt to locate Jo’s tiny camera. If Dan had a camera that small, there was no doubt in his mind that he’d lose it. “Now, if I were a camera, where would I be?”

“Around someone’s neck? Or on a tripod?” Jo offered.

Dan straightened up at her unexpected answer. “Well. You’re not wrong.”

Then Dan spotted the strap sticking out of the bottom of a pile. He noticed it the same time Jo did. They both made for the strap, then noticed the other was going for it and stopped. This went on for another few turns before Dan just lunged for it. This particular pile of junk was on top of Dan’s bedside table. Dan was grateful her camera was hidden there and not in something embarrassing, like a pile of dirty underwear.

Dan pulled it free and held it up like a war prize before handing it to Jo. Even though she was careful when she took it from him, they still managed to brush hands. Almost instantly Jo’s hand felt different. She tried to ignore it and appear unfazed. “Thanks, I don’t know what I would have done with out it.”

“Don’t mention it,” Dan said as he slide his hands into his pockets. It was obvious he noticed – and was most likely uncomfortable with – the contact Jo had made. “I saw on there you had a couple of vlogs. Do you make videos?”

There was a brief moment of panic as Jo’s heart stopped. Did she tell Dan about her channel? What if he looked it up? What would he think of the film projects she had uploaded there? What would he think of all her vlogs? Or that stupid video where she pretended to be a drunk British person with her friend? “Yeah.” Was all she gave him.

“So, do you have a channel, or do you just make them?”

Jo decided to bet on the chance that he wouldn’t look her up. “I…have a channel, actually.”

Okay, Dan, this is going good, don’t screw this conversation up. “Really? What’s your name?”

“Jordan The Blonde.” Jo resisted kicking herself then and there.

Dan nodded like he approved of her name. “So, do you just use that camera, or do you have another one for more, uh, stationary videos?” He moved toward the door, wanting to return to the kitchen.

“Just this one,” Jo said holding up the device in question and following Dan out the door. “Parents got it for me for Christmas my freshman year of high school.”

“A freshman?” Dan asked.

“Ah, year 9,” Jo supplied instead. “I didn’t make videos until the summer though.”

“Why did you wait?” Dan asked as they reached the floor that held the kitchen.

“I had to figure out how to use iMovie, I had never edited a video before. I just got bored at my grandparents’ house and would steal my brother’s iPod touch to vlog what ever we were doing.”

Jo pulled up short from her camera almost slipping through her fingers. Looking back at her, Dan wasn’t paying attention and ran into the door a second time.

He stumbled back until he hit the opposing wall. “Jesus Christ, again?”

“Pretty sure that’s what they said on Easter,” Jo said as she opened the door, internally shaking her head at the dork.

Even Phil snorted at that one. The mutual laughing among the three of them gave a slight boost to Jo’s confidence.

They finished their tea while the boys continued to ask her about her videos and why there was a lack of other people on the clips. She explained that those clips were for her channel and very few of her friends were ever okay with being filmed. Jo admitted she’d need to go home and delete the current files if she wanted to be able to use the camera while walking around. The thing had terrible memory space.

When half of her tea was gone, Jo bid the two farewell and Dan walked her to the door. Again, her headphones were in as soon as she hit the pavement and Dan watched her walk away for a moment before shutting the door and locking it.

“Phil! What the hell?” Dan spat at him as soon as he returned to the kitchen. “Why did you invite her in?”

“I didn’t know if you were out of the shower or not - I was stalling,” Phil explanation sounded a bit more like an excuse.

“Why are we even keeping her around?” Dan asked, aggressively picking up the kettle and pouring himself some more tea. He wasn’t going to let it go to waste. “Just because Harry wanted to hook up with her,” he grumbled.

Phil snorted and almost lost his drink through his nose. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

Dan heaved a sigh. “If I could find my phone, I’d show you but-”

Phil fished Dan’s phone out from behind a box of cereal.

“Phil.”

“Yes?”

“Why did you have my phone?” Dan asked holding on to the mug and the phone both entirely too tightly.

“To get Jo to come get her camera,” Phil stated simply. He took Jo’s left over mug and rinsed it out in the sink so he would have an excuse to not look at Dan’s judgmental gaze. “You wouldn’t have done it if I had left it with you. And then she wouldn’t have a camera!”

Dan didn't even try denying him.

Turning back around, Phil returned to the subject of Harry wanting to get in Jo’s pants, or at least her bra. “What’s this about Harry wanting to hook up with Jo? Is that why he invite her to the pub?”

Rather than respond, Dan pulled up a conversation. Right above it was Phil texting Finn the address to their home. “Read from ’Are you still awake’.”

Phil read the texts entirely too slow for Dan to remain comfortable and just asked that Phil actually return his phone when he was done. Dan changed his mind about wasting the tea and threw the remaining tea down the drain before going up stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all my American readers: I hope you had a good Thanksgiving! (P.S. This is th kind of camera Jo has: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Bloggie-Touch-Camera-4-Hour/dp/B0043CVH2Q)


	8. Dan's a Slight Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternative title: Dan Gets Feelings Holy Shit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so my finals are next week so here's a short little chapter for y'all.

Phil didn’t return Dan’s phone directly to him. After reading the texts exchanged between Harry and Dan, Phil felt it best to just leave it in a common area and have him retrieve it on his own. He left Dan to what ever it was that he was doing to process this exchange.

**Are you still awake**

**Should I have been?** Dan had responded the next morning.

**No I just was and wasnt sure if you were or not**

**No, I was pretty tired for all that hard core partying we did last night. ;-)**

**Yeah thats actually the thing I wanted to talk to you about**

**Can I just say I did agree to come out? And I did, I actually left my house and was social. It’s just my being social does not involve dancing in pubs that are clearly not meant for dancing.**

**What are you even talking about**

**This isn’t about Phil, Charly, and me not coming on the dance floor?**

**What no this is about Jo that blonde that gave me my phone**

**What about her?**

**Do you like her**

**I just met her.** So, what if it was a lie?

**yeah but do you like her?**

**Is “I’m indifferent” an option here?**

**No**

**she’s alright. She didn’t appear to be dim or a generally unpleasant person, so yeah, I guess.**

**But you didnt think she was hot**

**I wasn’t particularly concerned with it.** Which was the truth, how Jo looked really didn’t mater when he was afraid she’d bring up their horrible encounter at Shake Away.

**I dont know man it looked like you were checking her own when I was trying to make a move**

**She doesn’tt really seem like a person anyone could make any sort of a move on her, to be honest. :-/**

**Whats that supposed to mean**

**I just mean all your moves didn’t seem to work.**

**What no we were totally dancing together last night**

**Harry, she was dancing with ALL of you.** If Dan was being completely honest, it was more artfully flailing near another group of people. Not that Dan could judge, he wouldn't be much better.

**do you think if I ask Charlyd give me her number**

Dan didn’t know about Charly, but he didn’t want Harry getting Jo’s number. Because of reasons. **It was a fake. Charly tried to text it when she got home and she got somebody in Yorkshire. :-/**

**You're kidding**

Yes. **Nope. Sorry man.**

**So it was the equivalent to conning us for drinks**

**Well, I wouldn’t put it THAT way.**

**Damn, she was good looking though**

**If you’re into that.**

That being curly blonde hair on top of a friendly person with a great attitude about attending a complete stranger’s party where she tried beer for the first time and made just about the funniest face before being invited to dance by someone she obviously admired and actually fucking dancing and not stumbling over herself because she just has this confidence that Dan wished he had. Oh, and an adorable laugh.

**What does that mean**

**I’m just saying she isn’t my type.**

**Youve been single so long im not sureyou have a type any more**

**Ha ha ha you’re so funny, Harry.**

**Im serious you would have to be blind to not tnotice what a total catch was sitting two seats over**

**Wait, you’ve been single longer than I have!**

**Ive been single not unoccupied**

**you're gross.**

**Thats being in your twenties mate**

**Yeah, okay. Got to go, Harry.**

**K bye**

Dan actually didn’t have anything to do, but the topic of conversation was taking a turn he was so not prepared for or willing to deal with. Dan dropped his phone beside him on the couch and switched from watching rerun of some sitcom to playing video games. Crash Bandicoot was the game left in the console, so that’s how Dan went about not thinking about the conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry doesn’t use punctuation, that’s his texting style and I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for the amount of bold text, but this IS their text conversation...


	9. Friendship is Magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I left y'all hanging from last year, holidays and all that junk got in the way. Also, sorry this is up later than usual, packing up for the spring semester has been a confusing endeavor. I hope this makes up for it!

By the end of Jo’s first month, she had a solid friendship forming not only with Benjamin and her fellow interns but with Charly, Dan, Phil, the Harries Twins, Carrie of itswaypastmybedtime, and practically anyone else they brought around. No one ever seemed to bring around Creepy Harry, for which, Jo was thankful.

Funny story about the first time she met Carrie, there had been a get together at Chris’s house to watch some movie or another. Jo had been invited by Jack, whom she had met the week prior. She came into Chris’s living room and saw Carrie sitting on what could have been an ottoman or a backless couch, Jo wasn’t quite sure.

Chris introduced the two girls. When Jo extended a hand and said, “Hi, I’m Jo.”

Carrie had taken her hand and replied, “Oh, so this is who you’ve replaced me with?”

Jo spent the rest of the time there assuring her that Jo was not trying to replace her and cracking replacement jokes. Like when Carrie need a new can of soda, Jo offered to get her 'a replacement'. Several people laughed at that one.

Within her classes, she had people she didn’t mind interacting with, but no body she’d want to talk to outside of class. One of the contributing factors in that was she missed as much class as she attended. She got called into work at odd hours, sometimes only for thirty minutes sessions spread out over the course of the day. She got a smattering of assignments the others couldn’t handle. Sometimes her sessions of work would match up with Benjamin. They would throw up glances that said ‘WTF is this?’ and sigh a lot.

One particular Friday, Jo was glad to be sent home earlier than she anticipated; the hours were just dragging on from class to work. On her way home, she ran into Louise, another YouTuber who had also been at the party where she had met Carrie.

After talking a minute, Louise excitedly brought out her phone and showed Jo a horrendous picture of Dan.

“Someone emo-fied him!” Louise could barely contain herself.

“No way, let me see that,” Jo said grabbing the phone from Louise. She had a horrendously edited photo of Dan, giving him gages, an insane amount of band rubber bracelets, and black rimmed eyes with multiple eyebrow and lip piercings, but the best was the dye job on his hair. Now, his hair was already super black, but this person had not only given him white-lock, but black lines that went across it. Then she realized, “He has anime hair.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“That’s the hair of a character in my cousin’s favorite anime; _Soul Eater_ , look it up.” Louise did, and died for a second time.

After Louise’s giggles had calmed, Jo remarked, “Well, it worked with his outfit. It helps that his closet is just one big shade of emo.”

Louise had a look of mock shock. “I’m so telling him you said that.”

“Tell him I say it with love, I don’t want him hating me,” Jo said jokingly.

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t,” Louise said entirely too serious.

Just then, Jo got a text from Phil. **Are you free right now? Dan’s beating me at Mario Kart and I need to regain my sense of worth :-(**

Jo shook her head at her screen before replying that she would head over.

“Looks like you don’t have to tell him, I can tell him myself. I am being summoned to their flat but a butt-hurt Phil."

“Okay, well it was great meeting you here,” Louise said patting Jo on the arm.

Jo’s response was obligational. “Yeah, totally.”

She was stopped as she stood up to leave. “Ooh, before you run away, do you want to film a collab video? Dan said you had a YouTube Channel.”

Jo's breathing stopped for a beat. She bit back the urge to ask what Dan had thought of said channel. She also stopped herself from bringing up her low subscriber count, as if that would make Louise not want to collar with her. She agreed to a film date and left before she could stick her foot in her mouth, as she was prone to do.

A short walk across a park and down a side street and Jo was seated next to Phil on his couch, getting her butt kicked at Mario Kart _because Phil kept throw those freaking turtle shells at her._

It was definitely something about London she would miss when she had to go back. The ease of life in general. There were virtually no demands on her time and she was making friends at a rapid rate. Definitely more rapid than when she had at her own uni. Outside of the crew team, her one friend who had come to the same uni, and anyone in Cinema Studies(the smallest major ever it seemed), Jo didn’t know many people.

Jo’s time abroad was busy, but not like it had been in the states. The people she kept meeting were eager to hang out with her, sometimes in a group, sometimes just one on one. Carrie, Louise, and her often met for lunch or get-togethers that resembled sleep overs. If she was in the area, she tried to help Jack with his videos, new eyes and all. 

It only took about two weeks of constantly having her around before people started asking her if she wanted to make videos with them (let it be marked here Louise had been the first and thus the coolest). There was one week in early February where she had agreed to film one each day of the week. Using the British YouTubers’ more advanced camera, they would film other videos for Jo to put on her channel. Jo would get the footage, but with the filming, class, and the odd hours of the internship, Jo never got time to edit them. Still, the unopened footage nagged at the back of Jo's mind like an impatient child, one she kept sending to time out, sadly.

One of her favorites is when Dan and Phil tried to teach her to play one of the Sonic games. They discovered she could only win when one of the boys was blindfolded and the other had to describe what to do. Even then, Jo was pretty bad. In return, she taught them to waltz in the only space available, the kitchen. Jo insisted that the two dance together, laughing at how the Phan shippers would be dying over the not even fifteen second moment. They all went searching for the fanfiction after the video was posted. Phil was most upset at Jo not being included in any of them, more than the fact he was depicted as some bumbling idiot when, in reality, it had been Dan.

Just the inside jokes that developed warmed Jo’s heart. Hanging out with everyone, well, it felt like home. Not the US or her uni back there, but where she was actually supposed to be. It was a nice feeling that Jo wishes she could bottle up and save for finals week. Maybe she could get her study abroad extended into next winter…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: In my original manuscript, this chapter has the additional word "Motherfuckers" in the title.


	10. Is it happening??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the fluffiness while I try to enjoy the slight blizzard currently encircling my town.

Jo was having a lazy day. No class and no work to speak of, Jo had taken a break to scroll through her own social media. She had gained 3 new followers on Tumblr and Twitter, but she had lost a subscriber since the last time she looked. In the midst of trying to figure out why the nameless person left, Jo received a text from Phil.

**999 SOS HELP DAN AND I ARE STUCK IN THE STUDIO WIHTOUT FOOD!!**

**Where’s the studio?**

Phil sent her the address, then Jo promised to bring Dan and him food. 

**This is why I like you.**

Jo sent back a little emoji and went to grab her things.

Not 20 minutes later Jo was staring at the modern looking building, wondering how Sam’s boss couldn’t get a building that looked more like this instead of an out of date dormitory. 

She worried briefly that she wouldn’t be allowed into the studio to deliver the steaming Chinese take out she had gotten the boys. There wasn’t any security though, just a man sitting behind a desk that told her where to find Dan and Phil’s radio show. The ON AIR sign wasn’t lit so Jo tentatively knocked before pushing the door open a crack. No body seemed busy, but they also hadn’t noticed her timid entrance. She pushed into the room, startling the man sat behind the control board. 

She just held up the bag and looked into the recording room. Luckily, the man understood Jo's intent and pushed a button separated from the rest. “Dinner for Dan and Phil?”

Phil waved excitedly upon spotting her and Jo gave him a smile in return. Dan, however, looked up from what he was doing, and was startled by Jo appearing at his place of work. His hand flew to rub at the back of his neck as he straightened up.

Jo waggled the take out bag and Dan and Phil came clamoring out of the booth. They both nearly fell at her feet, praising her generosity. 

“You didn’t get it with shrimp, awesome!” Phil said when he peeked into his small box. 

Jo smiled, congratulating herself on how she guessed correctly when it came to which of the two boys didn’t like shellfish. “Tell me: how does one forget their diner if they haven’t eaten all day?” Jo asked, looking between the two.

“By leaving Phil in charge of packing our diner,” Dan said past a mouthful of noodles.

Phil didn’t even try to explain himself as Jo gave him a reprimanding eyebrow . They scarfed what they could before the man at the controls told them they were about to go back on. The boys thanked her again before scampering back into the room with their costar, who entered from another door attached to the recording room. There was a bit of a count down before they were supposed to start. As Dan and Phil donned their head sets and settled back into their chairs, Jo waved goodbye. Phil was fiddling with his microphone, so Dan was left to give a wave for the both of them, a slight flush coming to his cheeks.

Jo skittered out the door as they got to five. The door clicked shut and the ON AIR sign lit up. Jo's phone was automatically in her hand, earphones plugged in.

Back in the studio, the woman was first to speak. “Once again, that was Erin Jake with ‘Hopeless’,” said Dan and Phil’s costar. “Now, are you boys able to talk yet or no?”

“Well, I am,” Dan told her. “I don’t know about Phil.”

“Mhh, I’m good,” Phil said after swallowing a bit of the water the studio provided.

“Yeah, sorry, guys, we were just eating dinner,” Dan explained to their invisible audience.

“Thanks, Jo,” Phil added. He looked to the adjoining room, but found she had left. “Oh, she’s gone.”

Spinning from looking to the room herself, the lady wheeled back to Dan. “Yeah, who was that? She left in a hurry.” 

“That was our friend, Jo,” Dan answered, wondering how long they had to talk and if they were really going to spend all of it talking about Jo (and her blessed dinner).

“Just a friend?” Dan’s heart stopped. Of course Jo was a friend, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be more than friends…“Not a fellow Youtuber?” The inside of Dan’s head exploded. He thought about smacking her for the misleading question.

Dan, you should probably say something right about now. “Yes. Yeah, she’s a YouTuber,” Dan said running his finger through his hair. 

Dan had not been stalking her channel. Dan had not watched all her videos since that summer after her freshman year when she started. Dan had not noticed that she used to go by Jordan and now went by Jo, seemingly without reason. Dan was not disappointed there were no videos of her after her arrival in London.

But he had. And he was. 

(Not that he would admit it. If you asked him, it’d be a lot of calling you mental and fake, uncomfortable laughter.)

Speaking of fake, uncomfortable laughter, there were laughs throughout the studio when their costar jabbed at the boys. "To busy feeding you two?” 

“More or less,” Dan said, not sure what had happened in the few seconds he spaced out. 

The question made him recall the time when a couple of people had hung out at someone’s house and attempted to teach Jo how to make a "traditional English meal". It was a meal he had never hear of before but she was American and, therefor, gullible. She had a miserable failure and it was, naturally, hilarious.

Phil interrupted Dan’s nostalgia. “I forgot our dinner and she brought us food, so Jo is totally awesome for it.”

Dan nodded his head and licked his lips comically, “We like people who bring us food.” 

“Especially when we forget our own,” Phil said really driving home the pint that Jo, apparently, saved them from starvation.

“Now that the world knows our dietary preferences,” Dan said, steering the conversation away from Jo. “We have Richton Trace’s new single ‘Back Around’ up on the queue.”

Dan was glad Jo hadn’t been in the studio when their new costar (whose name Dan could not remember) had asked about her, especially when she had made Dan’s heart skip a beat. Dan made a mental note to circle back to that, as he currently needed to worry about eating as much of his meal as possible.

Sure, Jo hadn’t been in the studio, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be in the building’s main lobby, watching the live stream on the BBC Radio 1 website. 

If Jo hadn’t known better, she would think Dan has a crush on her. 

Except she did know better, and chalked it up to the fact he was extremely hungry and she brought him food. A small part of her brain told her she had done the same to Phil, but he didn't act the same way Dan had, which is saying something because they are far too similar to not be related.

“Shut up,” she ordered herself. She switched from the website to her music and began walking home. She’d like to meander a little bit more, but it was February and she was freezing her arse off. 

Two days later, Jo got a text from Dan. It was one of those rare occasions that Jo actually attended class and it had just begun.

**Anyone want to go see a movie on Friday?**

Automatically, Jo responded. **I can’t leave OB until 8 so as long as it’s after that. :-)**

It was sent in a group text, but strangely enough no one else replied until Jo’s class had let out. Not that she didn’t check it every few minutes to see who else would be going. The other people Dan had texted were Carrie, Charly, Chris, and Jack along with one other number that didn’t match anyone in her contacts.

Jo felt conflicted about being the only one to come along. On one hand, Dan was the only one she had yet to hang out one-on-one with. On the other hand, it was Dan. With everyone she had met, Dan was the only one she consciously tried to impress. Jo bet it was her way of trying to make up for the shitty first meeting. If she had to spend any amount of time with just Dan, well, Jo may explode. Or implode. Of all the classes she was taking, there was none that could tell her the difference between the two.

Jo had just set foot in the OB building when her phone buzzed again. Carrie and the unknown number (she would learn is was a kid named Alex) agreed to come along to the movies as well, Carrie would bring the two of them in her car.

Friday came and Dan met Jo in front of the cinema Dan had described. Even having been in London for a month and half now, Jo still gave herself a time buffer in case she got lost. They hugged briefly and chatted, waiting for Carrie and Alex to show up. When the movie was set to start in 10 minutes, Dan suggested that they go inside and find seats. Jo agreed. They split up, Dan buying their tickets and Jo getting popcorn and drinks (a Coke for Dan, Cherry Icee for herself). 

Dan held up the tickets to _Captain America 3_. Jo looked at him in confusion and he explained this cinema house played movies between the theatre and DVD. This was the last showing of Captain America's third installment.

When they found their seats, Dan shed his black jacket to reveal he was wearing a four colored patchwork shirt Phil had given him. When he sat back down, Jo offered the popcorn bucket back to him, surprised he didn’t wear his classic black.

While the pre-movie trailers played, Dan asked her what she liked to do that no one had asked her about yet. Really, it was just the first two weeks that people were asking questions. After that, it was like they knew enough about her, that they didn't want to learn anything more. Dan still had one question or another. 

Putting her drink back in the cup holder, Jo thought about it. “The three R’s.”

“The three what?”

“Read. Write. Row.” Jo said like it was the most clever thing in the world.

Dan looked at her quizzically. “’Write’ is spelt with a double u.”

“Oh, shut it,” Jo said throwing a bit of popcorn at Dan.

“Hey!” He exclaimed and retaliated. 

They threw their popcorn at each other, trying to catch those thrown at them, for the next minute before Jo ran out of amo. Before she could grab another handful, Dan held the bag out of reach. While his left hand stretched out long, Jo reached across Dan in a futile attempt to get the snack. She more or less ending up in Dan’s lap when she accidently slid out of her seat.

“Whoa, are you okay?” Dan asked sitting straight. 

“Yeah,” Jo, said straightening herself. “I’m good.” Then, Jo realized she still had her grip on Dan’s leg. She withdrew her hand like she had been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

“Why don’t you row here?” Dan asked, fiddling with a bit of popcorn before popping it in his mouth.

Jo took a handful for herself. “I’m not allowed; I didn’t come here in time for try-outs, plus I don’t know how long I’m staying exactly.”

“That sucks,” Dan tried being sympathetic. 

“I’m more scared about missing the season back home,” said Jo. If her tone didn’t give it away, her disappointed grimace told Dan she was put off by this.

“When does the, uh, season begin?”

“Mid-February,” Jo answered automatically.

Dan couldn’t believe it. “February?!?”

Jo jumped. “Jeez, Dan, could you be a little louder?”

It was official, this girl was mental. “You row, outside, on water, in February? And you don’t free your tits off?”

Jo looked down at her chest. “Well, I haven't yet.”

Dan chuckled. Probably not the most intelligent thing he could have said, but Jo didn’t seem uncomfortable with the subject. Not like she boasted a big chest, but even in her long sleeves and many layers she definitely wasn’t flat. Back to the conversation, Daniel.

“Why do you like rowing?” Dan asked in hopes of burying the minor blip.

“I dunno, actually. I hate moving,” Jo said.

“Same,” was Dan’s response. 

“Which is weird, because I played a lot of sports growing up.” Now that Jo thought about it, she had been really active for someone who much preferred to read. “I played soccer, softball, Tae Kwon Do, and danced before finding crew during year 9.”

“Soccer?” Dan asked confused before he remembered that football was called soccer in America.

“Guess I’m not totally British yet.” 

“No, you first have to complete the Seven Tasks of the United Kingdom,” Dan said completely serious.

Jo raised an eyebrow. “And what are these tasks, pray tell?”

Dan counted them off on his butter covered fingers. “Complain, queue like a boss, drink tea like a fish, use the phrase 'bullocks' in everyday life, say 'arse' instead of 'ass', consume fish and chips on a weekly basis, and marathon Classic Who in one sitting.”

Jo pressed her lips and playfully hit Dan in the chest. Well, playful to her, Dan would have received his third bruise because of Jo. Dan rubbed his sore chest as the lights dimmed and the opening scene rolled. 

The moment Chris Evans appear on screen, Dan leant in and whispered, “Do he got the booty?”

Jo nearly choked on her popcorn, before responding “He do,” in a low voice. They were so close Jo could practically feel Dan smiling with those freakin dimples. 

After a classic British scolding on screen courtesy of an elderly Peggy Carter, Dan settled back into his seat. 

They were maybe 30 minutes into the movie when Jo realized they still remained close. She also realized that they had squished themselves close on the arm rest as her head drooped towards Dan’s shoulder. There was a massive series of explosions from the movie and Jo used them as an excuse to drop her head the remaining two inches to Dan’s shoulder. Thankfully he was slouching or her head would have been resting comfortably in his armpit. Dan didn’t seemed to mind, so they stayed that way for the remainder of the film.

They and few others stayed to watch to the end of the credits as Jo had yet to see the movie. Exiting the theater, Jo was sprouting her surprise at the plot twist and her excitement for the next Marvel movie, which the end credit clip had linked to.

“I can’t believe they’re going to do that story line!” Jo exclaimed practically bouncing out of her seat at the _Thor_ preview at the end of the credits. “I mean, I’ve thought of a gazillion others they could do, but that one’s just _awesome_! And it work perfectly with the next Cap movie.”

“’M Glad you like it,” Dan said, smiling down at her. Her happiness seemed infectious.

After exiting the theatre, Carrie texted them both, explaining that she had had a bit of engine trouble and just gotten it sorted. Dan responded that they had just gotten out of the movie and that they would all try to get together for a movie next week.

After a few moments of walking and bumping into each other kinda-sorta on purpose, Jo stopped. Dan walked a few steps before stopping and looking at Jo with concern. “Dan, did you pull a John Green?”

Dan looked away.“...No.”

“Liar," Jo stated after a beat of silence.

Dan held up his hands defensively. “Okay, so I did, shoot me.”

Jo smiled, shaking her head. “I think I’d rather kiss you,” she said, instantly biting her lip like she could have stopped the words.

Her heart was pounding as the two seconds it took for Dan to react stretch on for way too long.

As far as first kisses go, it was pretty ordinary. In fact, it was kind of short because Jo pulled back to remark. “How smooth was I?” 

Dan laughed, he couldn’t believe this was the person he chose to place his affections in. 

Jo made up for the short kiss by giving Dan a kiss on the cheek before telling him, “Now, hold my hand, you twit.”

Dan withdrew his hand from his pocket and laced it with Jo’s which was clothed in a fingerless glove. Instantly, there was the feeling of differentness Jo had felt when he had first handed over her camera. Also, the feeling of being right where you needed to be. 

They stuck close together in efforts to battle the cold. They walked around the area between the cinema and Jo’s flat, some times veering off to another course that made their walk just a little longer. 

Eventually, they ended up at Jo’s door. There was a full conversation about how Jo had to go inside and Dan had to start the walk back to his place, all of which was an excuse to stick together just a few minutes longer. But they did have to let go of the other and say their good byes, because even for seasoned Londoner Dan Howell, the streets got scary past midnight.

The truth of what happened didn’t hit Jo until she was just about to fall asleep. Then, she was entirely too giddy to sleep, squirming with excitement and squealing softly into her pillow.


	11. Jo’s busy & Dan’s shit by comparison

The Wednesday after their date, Phil let Jo into the apartment. Their greeting was brief as he was on the phone, so Jo just waved before heading up the stairs. 

Upon entering his room, she saw why Dan had not heard the door. He was playing the piano, which was creating more noise than you would expect. Jo let him play for minute, completely unknowing of what song he was playing, just thinking it was pretty.

“Aw, fuck,” Dan cursed himself after hitting a particularly low note.

“'Didn’t sound like you messed up,” Jo said as she dropped her bag.

“Jesus!” Dan exclaimed holding a hand over his heart and twisting in his chair. “Give me a coronary why don’t you?

Jo laughed at his startled expression. “Are we going to do the stereotypical thing and have you teach me piano?”

“Uh, ha-no,” Dan said after a moment of sarcastic consideration. “We’re not in a cheesy romance flick.”

 _Or a bad fan fiction_ , Jo thought as she plopped on to Dan’s bed. “Sorry I scared you.”

“It’s fine, but why are you here?”

Jo plucked up one of his pillows and worried at the corner. “I’m not used to all this free time. Is it normally this sporatic?”

“No, you just have a shit job,” Dan said, now sitting sideways in his butt chair.

“Hey, a shit job’s better than no job.”

Dan opened his mouth to protest, but thought the better of it and just nodded. “Did you have a job in America?”

Jo shook her head. “I had one at a daycare in high school, but I was always too busy once I got into uni.” Jo went on to explain that between a full course load, crew, extra time she needed to work on film class projects, and hunting for scholarships and post-grad jobs she barely had time to be social. She had apparently made more friends in a week here than she did her entire first year at uni. “And then there’s Youtube.”

Dan stared at this contradiction of a girl. On a regular basis, she was entirely too busy to even think about relaxing, but she was making quality videos on a weekly basis. Dan would wager he had more free time than the average uni student and he still couldn’t keep a schedule. “Yeah, you haven’t made any videos since-”

“That’s a lie; I did all those collabs with you guys,” Jo cut in and reminded him. Dan remembered watching all those collabs and thinking of needing to film one himself. It was the day Dan decided to ask Jo out.

“Those weren’t posted to your channel, though,” Dan countered.

He had a point. “I have the footage, I just…”

“Don’t want to muck it up,” Dan finished for her.

“Yes, exactly!” Jo scooted back on the bed and sat with her feet crossed, pillow in her lap. “You guys are all so famous, and I’m nothing special –“

“Come off it, you’re loads special” Dan protested from the butt chair.

“You have to say that. You’re my boyfriend.”

Jo’s denial of her awesomeness made Dan wish he could conjure up the same amount of smooth Jo had exhibited on their first date. But since he was a huge dork, he just sat quiet.

“As I was saying, compared to you guys, I’m a nobody, and, suddenly, I have all these really great Youtubers hanging out with me?” Jo shook her head like she couldn’t believe it. “You think some of your talent would rub off on me.”

 _Okay, screw being smooth._ Dan got up, marched over, and planted a big, sloppy kiss on Jo’s cheek. Her face scrunched up at the wet noise. “It may not be talent, but I did rub off on you.”

“Uh, Dan?”

“Hmm?”

Jo’s little giggle burst forth. “That SO didn’t sound right.”

“Yeah," Dan said scrunching his nose. "It really didn’t."

Dan joined Jo on his bed, sitting cross legged opposite from her. They talked for two hours before Jo realized she was going to be late for work. She rushed out of Dan’s room after harshly pulling on her jacket and giving Dan a rough kiss.

“Dan, what did you say to Jo?” Phil called up the stairs. He had watched her dash away, not even plugging in her music.

“Nothing,” Dan said defensively. “She’s just busy.”

Phil squinted at Dan. “You didn’t muck it up already did you? I liked her.”

“No, I didn’t,” Dan sassed. “She just had to go to work, that’s all.”

The Friday following Dan and Jo’s John Green styled date, Jo, Dan, Carrie, and a boy they introduced as Alex attended a movie Jo would have never seen of her own accord, but she was outnumbered 3 to 1. The four of them bought tickets to a film called _the Woman in Red_ , a prequel to the horror movie _the Woman in Black._

Tensely, Jo took her seat between Dan and Carrie. “Are you alright, love?” Carrie asked.

Jo didn’t exactly have an answer for her, so she made a noise like “Uh?”

“Don’t like horror movies?” Carrrie guess

Jo shook her head violently. “No, not at all.”

Jo’s aggressive head shaking caught Dan’s attention. “Don’t worry Jo, I’ll protect you.”

Not sure if he was joking or not, Jo bit back, “Dan, if I remember correctly, you once said you were as ‘intimidating as a pink butterfly stuck on a marshmallow’. What use would I have for you?”

“Hey! You can’t use my own videos against me!” Dan protested. “And you could probably use me as a shield.”

“Or you could throw him like a lance,” Alex offered from the end of the line.

"Ha ha, I get it. I'm skinny!" Dan said playfully.

Their laughter continued until the theatre lights went out and the creepy music started. Their laughter died pretty quickly after that.

The story was generally interesting and not scary save for a few times someone jumped out of no where. Upon the death of the child, Nathaniel, Jo cried. Dan gave her hand a tight squeeze. It was after the carriage wreck, the movie began to show why it was dubbed a horror movie. Jo rarely let go of Dan’s arm, Carrie would cover her eyes only to peak between her fingers, and Dan would jump so ferociously he would end up throwing popcorn all over Jo and the couple sitting behind them.

The movie ended on the most terrifying cliff hanger Jo had yet to experience and someone let out a bloodcurdling scream. Later, she would find out both her and Dan scream like children and were the source of the noise.

The foursome walked briefly before finding a small diner to order a late night snack. Jo had to keep a hold of both of Dan’s hands, as he was annoyingly trying to scare her by brushing his finger tips along the back of her neck or arm. Granted, Alex was joining in, making ghostly grabs for Jo’s other hand, but Carrie soon hit him on the back of the head and told him to stop terrifying the "poor little American".

In between threatening Dan with bodily harm if he left her alone and discussing what she actually liked about the movie with Carrie, they sent Alex to order one of the meant-for-a-family-of-ten pies the diner’s dessert tray offered. Since she didn’t get to pick the movie, they let Jo pick the flavor. She chose chocolate pudding.


	12. ALL THE FLUFF

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title is actually kind of a lie because this isn't all that fluffy, but it's a nice little chapter about Dan and Jo's relationship and friends and life and I just think it's really cute, so, yeah, all the fluff.

Towards the end of February, Carrie’s heater blew out. With the near freezing temperature of the unseasonably cold week, she had gotten almost no sleep. Jo heard of her predicament from Finn when they were having a drink. She had found she rather enjoyed one of the fruiter alcoholic drinks Finn had order for her their first time out together, but she had no idea what it was called so if she wanted one she had to have a drink with Finn. By no means drunk (as Carrie believed her to be initially), Jo insisted Carrie spend her days in Jo’s cozy flat.

On the first night, Louise had joined the two girls and they had had a proper sleep over. Two days later, Carrie’s house was fixed and spent the day collecting all her things which had found their way all over the flat.

Dan had silently came over and watched a Classic Who marathon with Jo while Carrie bustled around in the back ground.

When Carrie emerged to say goodbye, Jo was sitting on the floor, Dan was behind her on the couch pawing through her hair. One of Dan’s favorite things is brushing his fingers through Jo’s hair, like sometimes they get caught in the waves, but he’s always super gentle trying to get it out. Not even Jo knew how much he had wanted to do it until the day he inevitably did. At the time, to was to distract her from the current videogame – _Uncharted 3_ – to have Phil’s level completion record stand. It backfired a bit because as soon as she was done (losing to Phil’s time by 30 seconds) she asked Dan why he had stopped. Right now, he was more or less petting her.

And Carrie freaking lost it.

“Dan!” She shouted between giggled. “What are you doing?”

Carrie saw the back of Dan’s neck flush and Jo hide behind her hair. Neither of the two answered, grateful she hadn’t come in five minutes earlier when they were a bit more involved.

To be honest, it was one of the best feelings in the world to Jo. Besides cuddling, that is but sometimes you can’t exactly do that in public (not that they hadn’t tried, much to Dan’s chagrin). Also, Jo was in much need of a stress reliever. Jo’s job had gotten a lot harder when they started trusting her with deciding the post schedule, when what content would be posted and where. The table next to the sofa where Dan was laying boasted a pile of papers that had many of Jo’s preliminary schedules scrawled across them. Jo had many of them written in her school notebooks as well between the meager notes for maths class and after some of her more killer stories for her creative writing class.

Dan and Jo assisted Carrie in removing her luggage from Jo’s flat. There hadn’t seemed to be that much when she was coming in; perhaps she had stolen Jo’s toaster oven in her stay.

The couple resumed their seats as the theme played for the next episode. Dan, however, chose to sit cross-legged instead of lay as he had been before.

“I met the head of the _Doctor Who_ social media coordinator today,” Jo said absently as Dan worried at her hair. “She runs the Tumblr account, actually.”

“Oh, what was she like?” Dan said without really thinking.

“As funny as you’d expect her to be, considering her name is the biggest pun,” Jo mused.

“Hmm?”

“You know how the _Doctor Who_ Tumblr maintains that it’s run by Adipose?” Jo asked. “Well, her name is Addison Posey.”

“You’re joking.”

“Am not.”

They fell quiet for the moment, Dan combing through the bottom half of Jo’s hair and her sighing contently.

“Dan?” Jo said, breaking the silence again.

“Hmm?” He repeated.

“Addison wants me to go on-location and live blog for her.” Jo sounded unsure, but Dan couldn’t figure out why. What was so bad about going on-location?

Dan asked her, and got a noise that concerned him. “Jo. What's the matter? What aren't you telling me?”

“Well,” Jo said. She mumbled the rest of her sentence.

Dan dropped his hands from her hair and tried to look her in the eye, she avoided him. “Jo, you’re going to have to speak –"

“I’m going to Manchester,” she blurted.

After a beat of silence, Dan responded. “I fail to see what the problem is.”

Twisting her hands and picking at her nails, Jo added, “For a week.”

“Oh, well, that’s all the clarification I needed – thanks, Jo,” Dan said, laying on the sarcasm.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be mad or not,” Jo admitted. Dan could see a bit of her neck turning red. That’s the thing about Jo, when she blushed, she got red all over. Even the part in her hair was beginning to redden.

Dan’s resumed worrying Jo’s hair. “Jo, why on Earth would I be mad?”

Jo sighed and leaned into Dan's touch. “I don’t know; I don’t know how long distance relationships work.”

“Jo,” Dan said, in a tone similar to how one would say ‘bitch please’. “You’re going to be three hours away, max. That’s hardly long distance. And you’re coming back so.” Jo stayed quiet and a small something tightened in Dan's chest. “You are coming back, right?”

“What?” Jo said distractedly before rejoining the conversation. “Oh, yeah - yes, I’ll only be there seven days, like the rest of the cast and crew.”

A week. “That’s not bad. Worse thing that could happen is Phil forgetting to wear mismatching socks.”

They fell into silence again, albeit this one was slightly heavier.

“When do you leave?” Dan asked quietly.

“Wednesday. The 22nd,” Jo added. It was Monday now.

“Are you packed? Because if you aren’t, I could help. If you want,” Dan hastened to add.

Jo dropped her head back into Dan’s lap. She was smiling softly. “Thanks for the offer, but Carrie and Louise already did that for me.”

“Well, aren’t they good friends,” Dan said before leaning down and give Jo a peck. He pulled back and put a hand to her cheek. Despite his awkwardness, Dan could be very gentle. He drew his thumb from her cheek to her jaw line before kissing her more earnestly.

“Alright,” Jo said, ending the kiss. “That’s enough Spiderman kisses.”

She stood up, knocking into Dan’s face. Jo apologized and kissed him gently on the nose before joining him on the couch. Dan made the executive decision to sprawl out across Jo’s lap. She tried not to think of him with cat whiskers as he stretched and curled up his lanky form. She sighed contently, began to stroke Dan’s back, and returned to watching the telly. It was a good place to be.

Three days later, late on location, Jo was dozing off; Addison gave her an order to be the first one there and the last to leave. The director was still talking to Benedict. Yes, Cumberbatch. Jo had gotten over her wonder and star stuck attitude as soon as they began filming as she was terrified of him (he did the insincere, I-will-skin-you-alive smile again).

She worked her phone out of her pocket and texted Dan. **Is it horribly inappropriate to tell you I miss you?**

A few moments later, after everyone had left and Jo started to trek back to the hotel she had for the night, she got a response. **Probably, but I miss you too, so I don’t think it matters. :)**


	13. Jo Gets Homesick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any potential tears/feels...

Jo dragged her suitcase into the lift, damning the stairs for the first time in her stay. She had returned from the live-blogging at the late late hour of eight at night. All day on a commuter train had fatigued her beyond her belief and even moving her own legs was something she’d rather not do.

Upon entering her apartment, her desktop made a strange noise. Her parents were Skyping her.

“Hi, guys,” Jo said with a yawn. “Long time, no see.”

“Can you hear us?” Her mom asked.

“Yes, I can hear you.” She wondered what on Earth needed to have her parents Skype her at…oh, wait, it was only 3 in the afternoon there, and they hadn’t spent the entire day traveling.

“Jordan pordin pudding pie!” Her dad called into the mic.

“Whoa!” Jo barked and hit the volume down button. “Dad, too loud.”

“Sorry, Blondie,” Her dad apologized before Jo’s mom extended her arm so the screen showed more than just her face.

Jo parents sat in a dark looking restaurant. “Where are you guys?”

“BJ’s!” They cheered.

Jo gave them a wry smile. “Having a pizzookie without me?” BJ’s was a brew house and pizza place not far from her home in Virginia. There was also one relatively near her art school’s campus. BJ’s was not Jo’s favorite restaurant, but it was something familiar enough to make Jo ache. Or maybe she was just craving one of their pizza pan cookies.

Without shame, her dad answered. “Yes, but it’s kind of hard to share.”

Without warning, the camera flipped around and Jo saw that they did not sit at a table alone. Her boat sat with them. Looking past them, she saw more of her school’s colours and realized an entire half of the dining room had been taken over by her school’s rowing team. Most likely cued from her mother behind the camera, they all started to sing “Happy Birthday”.

Shocked, Jo’s eyes darted to the bottom of her laptop screen and saw the date. March 1. Jo had turned 20 while over seas. Not that she hadn't realized she would when she applied for the program, but having it actually happen made something in Jo twinge.

The singing got unbearably loud, and she felt sorry for the other BJ’s patrons.

“You’re not a teenager any more,” Her dad said as the camera returned to her parents' faces. “You’ll have to start acting like an adult.”

Jo shook her head. “Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.”

The pair laughed, knowing their daughter was thinking of the Doctor whenever she quoted that. “What have you been up to?”

Jo talked with her parents and one or two of her team mates about her study abroad. There is a considerable amount of lying though. Well, not lying, just avoidance of mentioning some details. Like Jo doesn’t mention her internship being more important than her classes, or that she met Benedict Cumberbatch, or that she tried alcohol. Or that she was dating danisnotonfire.

She definitely didn’t mention Dan.

Their relationship was very much private at her and Dan’s agreement; Dan didn’t want Jo to be getting any hate because some crazy twelve year old thinks that she’s destined to marry him and Jo hated couples that were constantly online. They had exactly one picture of them online on Jo’s Instagram, and it wasn’t even coupley; it was a still frame of a short video Dan had attempted to shoot where Jo had picked him up and then dropped him. Dan had complained of a sore bum for the rest of the night. Jo denied the drop was her fault and said that Dan squirms.

No one asked about that though, no one cared enough to go scrolling through the photos of the random moments around London. Though, her room mate did congratulate her on a good job of putting famous British YouTubers into her pictures. Jo didn’t tell her it wasn’t edited. Well, there was a filter, but the twins had definitely used Jo’s head as an armrest. 

All the talking with her teammates and her parents just made the ache grow. That was something Jo never counted on. She preyed on her parents ignorance and claimed that it was near midnight and wanted to sleep. They went, apologizing for having woken her up (they were under the assumption that Jo went to sleep every night at 10 and had ever since entering high school).

Jo quickly closed the window and didn’t stop until the dark screen of her computer allowed her to stare at herself. Her parents phone must have been too small, or they must have assumed that Jo was just happy, because Jo was crying and no one had said anything. Not sobbing like she was always keen to do, but liquid was definitely leaking from her eyes.

Before Jo could stop herself, she was down the stairs and launching out into the dark streets. She hadn’t brought her phone and she had shed her jacket while talking to her parents, being unbearably warm. Her teeth were chattering as she numbly made her way across the city.

Phil answered the door and was nearly knocked into the wall at the raging ball of blonde that was thrown at him. “Jo,” Phil coughed out. “It’s Phil.”

Jo just hugged him tighter. It wasn’t specifically her boyfriend she was looking for, just someone to reminder her that she wasn’t all alone. Phil and Dan and just about everybody she had met fit that bill, but the boys just seemed like the best option. Okay, and Jo wanted to see her boyfriend.

After releasing Phil to breathe, she closely followed him up the stairs to the lounge.

“What did they want?” Dan asked, not taking his eyes off his computer screen.

“Dan?” Jo asked, her voice coming out more broken than she intended.

Immediately, Dan’s head snapped up. He sprung to his feet with his laptop discarded at the sight of the sniffling girl. “Jo, what’s wrong?”

Both parties moved and they were hugging. Jo squeezed tightly around Dan’s middle and Dan’s arms were snug against her shoulders, his cheek rested on top of her head and tucking her into him. She hugged fiercely, but only around his tummy so Dan could breathe. They stood like that for a while, long enough for Phil to quietly slip out of the room and Jo to leech a fair amount of Dan’s heat. She was sniffling without actually crying which she thought was worse.

Eventually, Dan pulled Jo down to sit on the sofa. Once Jo actually began to talk about why she had come over, then actual tears came. She could tell Dan was uncomfortable with the very panicky display of emotion, but he did his best to comfort Jo, rubbing his hand up and down her upper arm. She wiped her eyes and nose on the cuff of her sleeve. She would have asked for a tissue, but the thought of Dan leaving her side for even a microsecond made her hand clutch at his hand (the one not occupied by soothing her).

Almost an hour and half later, when Jo had begun to calm down, Phil poked his head back in to the room. “Is it okay for me to come back in now?”

“Phil,” Jo sniffled, wiping the remaining wetness from her face. “Yeah, of course. I didn’t mean to keep you out.”

“It’s alright,” Phil said entering and joining them on the sofa. “You’re crying.”

“It’s crying privilege,” Dan said hoping to get Jo to laugh. On any other occasion, she would, but right then she didn’t.

“Is there anything you want us to do?” Phil’s voice full of concern. Even when he was worrying like a parent, Jo noticed he still looked as innocent as a toddler.

“Can I just stay here?” Jo sniffed. “Hang out with you guys so I’m not alone?”

“Yeah, sure,” Phil said smiling sweetly.

“Why don’t you help us with Uncharted? You can solve those ridiculous puzzles in under a minute!” Dan praised.

Jo just nodded her head and Phil crossed the room to set up the telly and console. What Dan said held true, Jo solved each of their little obstacles in no time. She remained quite solemn, though, not even getting excited when Dan and Phil won a battle, like she usually did when she her self wasn’t cursing out the controller for not doing what she meant to do. She stayed close to Dan’s side, leaning on him and only moving her head from his shoulder when he started aggressively pushing buttons. During the transition clips, Dan leaned his head on Jo’s, wishing he was better at comforting people.

Some time around 10, Jo’s stomach let out a rather vicious roar. After a beat of silence and some laughing, the trio climbed to the kitchen. Dan attempted to outsmart the glass door by going after Phil and before Jo. He was successful in avoiding the door, but not successful in avoiding the drawer he had left open when he had last gone in the kitchen. He hopped around and cursed his banged shin. The sight cracked a small smile from Jo. Dan guessed his physical well being was worth the trade off to see Jo feeling better and finally smiling.

It was entirely too late to make any real food, at least, according to Phil, so they all grabbed bowls of cereal. Phil got the bowls and spoons, Jo the milk, and Dan brought the cereal.

“It is a Country Crisp kind of day?” Phil asked as Dan passed it to him to pour his bowl first.

“I think it is,” Dan said.

Before pouring it, Phil flipped the box around like the design wasn’t the same on either side. “Hey, Jo, look – it’s got your name on it.”

Dan and Jo simultaneously said, “No, it doesn’t – it does” and snickering at their synchronization.

Phil, quite please with his discovery, passed the box back across the table to Dan. Or he tried to, but Jo intercepted and held the box out of Dan’s reach.

“Jo, what’re you doing?” Phil said trying not to dribble milk down his chin.

“Gimme a kiss,” she said patting her dimple with the pad of her finger.

“You what?” Dan laughed.

“Seeing as it say it’s mine,” Jo said looking from the box to Dan. “I require payment.”

Dan smirked at her, “You didn’t make Phil pay.”

“Mmm, Phil’s not my boyfriend,” she smirked back.

“Fine,” Dan said, feigning exasperation. Jo tilted her cheek up to Dan’s sweet kiss.

Phil swept the box out of her hand and handed to his room mate.

“No fair,” Jo pouted, crossing her arms.

“Aw,” Phil cooed. “We’ve made her upset.”

“C’mere,” Dan said, pulling on her arm. Wary, but willing, Jo followed Dan’s lead and ended up sitting on his lap. He pressed a quick kiss to her shoulder before dragging her bowl over in front of him and wrapping his right arm around her waist. He was glad she was feeling a bit more like herself.

“You two are gross,” Phil said, mostly to himself.

“Wow, Dan, I’m impressed,” Jo said taking up her spoon.

“With?”

“What you just did,” Jo said pointing to his arm. “That has got to be the least awkward thing I’ve ever seen you do.”

Despite the underlying feeling is sorrow, Jo would hold on to this moment for years to comes, at least until she had a better feeling come along.

After the clinking of their spoons ceased and the cereal was all but gone, They returned to the couch. Phil suggested they play Bioshock Infinite. Dan agreed and Jo just told them she’d watch them play. She curled up on the couch, her feet on Dan’s lap and watched Dan and Phil go up against Jo didn’t even know what. She feel asleep despite the explosive noises.

It was near midnight when they began to finally feel tired themselves, Phil shut off the game while Dan extracted himself from under Jo’s feet and tossed a blanket over her.

Dan was in that sweet spot between consciousness and dreams when his door cracked open. He sat up on his elbows, wondering what the hell Phil wanted. Instead the shadow was much smaller, with a lot more hair.

“Jo?”

There wasn’t a word. There was just a spot of movement before Dan could feel his blanket being tugged from under his arm and a body joining him in his bed. Jo’s hand, peppered with calluses from her many years of rowing, pushed on his shoulder gently. He sank back to his pillow. She moved his arm and snuggled into the lower part of his abdomen. Her hair tickled his bare skin and he was hyper aware where each of her fingertips were. Her legs were intermingled with his and he could feel their warmth through his sweatpants, a contrast to her near icy feet which laid across his shins and ankles.

“Um,” Dan began after she had settled. “Not that I’m complaining, but…why?”

Jo stayed scrunched into his chest, but he heard her clearly say, "Because I'm homesick on my birthday and you feel like home."

Oh. Dan then did his best to burrow deeper into his bed and wrap himself around Jo. Jo squeezed him with all the strength she had for a moment or two before remembering there was this pesky thing called air Dan needed. With the return of air to his lungs, Dan pressed his lips to Jo’s hair and whispered. “Happy Birthday, Jordan.”

Jo made the softest noise in return. It was nice; Jo felt solid and soft and she was right there, she existed. Dan felt subpar when it came to physical affection, being all elbows and ill placed limbs, so he was always sort of thankful there was never really a time for cuddling. But, Jesus Christ, was he missing out.

Jo, in contrast, loves cuddling. It reminds her that she is, in fact, not the only person in the world and that there is someone who wants to be that close to her. As a result, she had gotten quite good at it. In Dan’s bed, she fell asleep faster than she ever had. She decided Dan was not as horrible at cuddling as he thought he was.

“Hi, Phil,” Dan greeted him the next morning. Dan had one eye shut and a smirk that barely contained a giggle. That was because there was currently egg dripping down the side of his face, having been cracked on his head.

Phil couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “What’er you doing?”

There was flour everywhere and the faint smell of burning chocolate in addition to Dan’s egg head. The kitchens doors and drawers had been thrown open with a mix of pots and pans being used any other way than what they were intended for.

“Making Pancakes!” Jo said in a fit of giggles, poking her head out from behind Dan like she had been hiding. Jo herself had a streak of white powder in her hair and what looked like butter or oil smeared on the side of her neck. “I felt bad for just coming over and crashing so I thought I’d make you guys pancakes. Then this one” – Jo said shoving her elbow into Dan’s ribs, he pinched her side in return – “Scared me.”

“She cracked an egg on my head in self defense,” Dan explained.

“You threw the sugar at me!” Jo accused him. The sugar in question sparkled from her hair, much like the way the light bounced from her eyes. (Later, Phil and Dan would agree her eyes were the most sparkly green they’d ever seen, including Phil’s multicolored eyes, much to his disappointment.)

Despite the mess, they were able to make enough batter to whip up a nice batch of pancakes. They tasted excellent, but Jo had to lend their perfection to Dan’s mastery of the stove.

Always playing the mother, Jo wiped chocolate from the corner of their mouths before whisking away the dishes. Dan and Phil offered to help clean up, seeing as it was their kitchen in the first place, but Jo insisted it was a thank you for being there when she needed them.


	14. YouTubers are Shit Rowers

Two weeks Later, Jack Harries found himself narrating Jacksgap’s latest video. His friend and fellow Jakcsgap teammate, Will Darbyshire, joined him in their creative space office. He sat at the desk next to Jack, sifting through Go-Pro footage of varying angles. Jack smiled a bit seeing a clip of Jo playing on screen before he began.

“This is Jo. She is a girl from America who is studying abroad here in London. Because she's not an official student of her study abroad uni, the school cannot allow her to join the school's rowing team, and with Jo feeling a little homesick, we set out to make her feel a little more at home.

We made a few calls around to the local rowing clubs and eventually found one that would allow us on the water. Joining us in the boat would be Carrie, Louise, Finn, Louis, Dan, and Phil along with a coxswain provided by the club.

The boating club we contacted is located on the Thames just thirty minutes outside of London. Finn left in a separate car to retrieve Jo and the plan was put into action. I picked up everyone else and we were off.

After a brief safety video and a discussion about where we would each sit, we were finally allowed to take down our boat.

Getting off the dock went smoothly enough, and we even avoided a particularly large log as well as the accompanying four person boat thanks to the quick thinking coxswain. Now a coxswain, or Cox’in as Jo was calling her, drives the boat as well as tells the rowers when to begin rowing, when to stop, and keeps the rowers motivated during a race. Since we weren’t racing and just learning to row, she helped us understand the different parts of the stroke and how to row correctly.

After dealing with us for the better part of the morning, Jo switched out of our boat and into one called a ‘quad’. The girls in Jo’s new boat challenged us to a race down the Thames, first one to dock was the winner.

I walked away with a genuine respect for those who made it look so easy.

I would like to extend a special thanks to Adam’s Tree rowing club for helping us with the surprise, and if you want to meet any of the people who helped, links to their channel will be in the description.”

Before recording another take of the narration, Jack took a break and left the small space to get some food for himself and Will. His mind lazily went over the whole rowing plan as he waited in the queue.

Finn has returned from an outing with Jo and demanded Jack help him with a project. After hearing about Jo’s homesickness, the twins had hopped on their computers immediately, looking for rowing clubs in the area. Finding a club and getting their friends was surprisingly easy, as was getting Jo to agree to a run with Finn. The older twin felt the hairs stand up on his neck hoping Jo wouldn’t ask why they were driving to the place where they would run.

A few moments before Finn and Jo’s arrival, Jack and the rest of the YouTuber team climbed out of their van.

"Dan what are you wearing?" Louise asked when she saw what Dan had chosen as his athletic wear. The club had warned them about the wind and cold, so Dan had chosen to wear his infamous sweatpants and an obnoxious green and yellow windbreaker. Granted they all looked just as ridiculous, it was just Dan that looked a tad bit more colorful. The only ones who looked remotely ready to row were the twins and maybe Carrie.

Jo told them so when she arrived with Finn.

In Finn’s car, Jo perked up when they pulled up to a boat house, even more when she saw her friends waving from the doorway. “No freaking way.”

Jo popped the lock on Finn’s door and her feet hit gravel before the car came to a full stop, racing over to her strangely dressed friends.

“What are you all wearing?” She asked. Jo had on her long spandex and a windbreaker sporting her home university’s colours.

Louis noticed a distinct lack of gloves in Jo’s get up. When he asked her about it, she explained no only to him, but to the camera. “Well, if you wear gloves, either for the cold or to protect your hands” – she flipped over her hands and they all marveled at the hard bumps that had once been blisters – “Then you can’t feel the oar and might catch a crab.”

“A what?” Jack asked from behind the camera.

“Catching a crab means your oar gets stuck in the water and it can actually take you out of the boat.” Jo laughed like it was funny to be launched from your seat by a wooden pole.

“I’m scared now,” Dan said from behind her.

“So, you don’t actually catch crustaceans?” Finn joked.

“No, or STDs,” Jo added, making everyone in the area laugh.

When the joking was done, a coach for the rowing club introduced themselves and directed the group into a room that might have been used for a med bay. They were required to watch the universal rowing safety video before they were allowed anywhere near the rowing equipment.

Handling the boat was only slightly cringe inducing. After securing the oars to the rigors, Jack passed his camera off to the assistant coach and then attached one of the many Go-Pros to the track where Jo’s shoes were. She didn’t notice until they had to take their seats.

Slipping into her shoes, she called back to Jack who sat in 6 seat, “Jack, I hope you realize there’s no such thing as a photogenic rower.”

Finn, who sat behind between them, barked a laugh that was caught on film by the launch driver.

The driver also walked the length of the boat, showing each person as they settled in and called out their seat number starting with Carrie in bow and ending with Jo in stroke.

There weren’t many obstacles to avoid, so the majority of their little practice was trying to keep the boat steady. Frequent screams came from the girls in the bow as well as Phil, fearful they would tip over. Jo assured them it was near impossible to do so.

They were fast learners, fast enough in fact the coach asked them if they wanted to try a piece.

There was a chorus of ‘Yes’, ‘Let’s go’, and other cheers from the boat.

Three strokes in Phil let out a yelp of pain.

“My seat is stuck!” Dan called out in disbelief. Jo’s voice could be heard from the Cox’s mic when she asked if his sweat pants had gotten caught in the track. 

They had. 

Jo face palmed.

Dan was unstuck from his wheels with only mild embarrassment. They got up to relatively fast speeds, but the boat’s cox could tell Jo could do more. She flagged the coach down and asked if one of the girls in the other boat would mind switching with her.

The two boats rowed for just a bit more after the switch, Jo broke rowing law and looking outside her boat. In looking at all her friend attempt to row, she felt even more grateful of this surprise, none of them could manage very well. Every now and then they would throw her a look of terror she hoped the twins were getting on camera.

Bless all their faces, they tried.

There was a brief break where the boats turned around to head back into shore.

“Hey, Beck!” Jo’s new coxswain called. “Up for a race? First to dock wins!”

Beck ask the eight if they wanted to race.

“I think we can take em!” Yelled Finn.

He was the only one because the rest of the boat chorused, “No!”

The quad’s cox didn’t listen, instead she ordered them to “Sit ready.” The four girls snapped their oars to attention and waited for the next call. “ReadyRow.” Jo’s boat quickly pulled away from her friends in the eight in a flurry of oars. Try as they might, the other boat just couldn’t keep up. While Jo had a look of intense concentration, internally she was smiling like crazy at being back home on the water again. Her quad got back earlier than the other boat and so helped them bring it into the dock.

Putting the boat back was only slightly less anxiety inducing. She encouraged Dan to use his height to his advantage but what he had in height he lost in strength to the actual rowers who did most of the lifting. Jo found everyone’s complaints chuckle worthy. They gathered around Jack and his camera to voice what they thought of the experience. Jo excused herself on a phone call.

It was a surprisingly short call and when she returned to the group, Jack turned his camera to her approach. “Let’s get an official opinion, Jo, are we ready for the Olympics?”

In lieu of an answer, Jo numbly stated, “I’m being deported.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quad - a 4 person, sculling boat
> 
> The line up:
> 
> Cox: Beck  
> 8: Jo  
> 7: Finn  
> 6: Jack  
> 5: Louis  
> 4: Phil  
> 3: Dan  
> 2: Louise  
> 1: Carrie


	15. WHY WOULD YOU SEPARATE THEM?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUN FACT: The chapter's title comes from a text I received when my friend first read this chapter

It was true, Jo was flunking nearly every class. She thoroughly believed that it was a prank or misinformation on the office’s part. Jo believed that until her Professor Teslerra barred her from the classroom and returned all of the assignments she had ever handed in (a rather thick stack considering she had only been there a max of two months). It began to make sense when Jo had time to think about it what with class no longer being an issue.

With her unbelievably low attendance record, it was a wonder she was insistent that she would not fail her final. She made a few heated phone calls to her trip organizer from her uni, the study abroad manager at her current uni, and even to the office that manages student visas. However hard she made her case the decision was final, her grades suffered so she lost her study abroad opportunity. Since her study abroad was linked to her visa, when one got revoked so did the other.

Initially, Jo was sad about having to give up her internship a month early. When Jo realized that she probably would never see any of her friends again she became even sadder. When Jo realized she and Dan would be split up, she became depressed.

She alternated between never wanting to see Dan and never wanting to leave his side. He was very understanding of her low mood and even offered to help with the book a flight home or help her pack. Jo loved the help, but did everything herself, slowly weaning herself of her life in the UK. No more hang outs at Dan and Phil’s apartment, no more fruity drinks with Finn, no more giggly coffee dates with Carrie and Louise.

There was one thing she had to before she left. She called Dan.

“Jo? Perfect timing, I just finished filming,” Dan said, a smile evident in his voice.

“Hi, Dan,” Jo said in a way that to her sounded empty.

“Are you all done packing?”

“Almost.”

“’Cause I know you were freaking out about sending everything home a head of time.” There was rustle of fabric on Dan’s end. Jo could imagine him, lying on his bed and sorting through the mass of horrible footage he had been left. She fleetingly wondered how long she'd be able to picture him perfectly after they...

“Yeah,” Jo said gripping the edge of her sofa. “It’s, uh, been a little crazy.”

“Is there a reason you called?” Dan asked. “You don’t seem to like the topic of moving very much.”

_Just do it!_ “I’m breaking up with you.”

She could hear Dan sitting up. “You’re-”

“It’s not that I want to,” Jo rushed to interrupt him. “But I thought about it and I don’t see a way it could work. Over here, I didn’t have much to do, but back in America, I barely have time to breathe. Adding a long distance relationship… It would be lethal, Dan.” Jo finished and there was silence. “You get what I’m saying?”

“I understand your reasons, but I don’t think that’s our only option.” Jo could almost see Dan rake his fingers through his hair.

“Dan, please,” Jo began.

“No, Jo, listen, I know you’re busy, but I know this can work, I’ve seen it happen with Jack and Ella.” Dan sounded desperate, but it could be Jo's own feeling clouding the matter.

“But Ella isn’t a varsity rower, a film student, and trying to graduate without debt.” Jo sighed. “Dan, you know me and know I would try my hardest to make that work, but this is in no way fair to you. I don’t want to be the one whose schedule you have to bend to, I don’t want to burden you like that.”

“You’re not a burden,” Dan said quietly.

Jo hugged a pillow to her chest. “Maybe not now, but what about when Carrie starts to be more than a friend?”

Dan’s tone changed from gloomy to slightly annoyed. “Is that what this is? Are you jealous? I thought you liked Carrie.”

“No, I’m not jealous; I love Carrie. I just don’t want to hold you back if your life over here starts to grow away from me.” Jo could see it now, Dan meeting another girl much prettier than her, darker than her. Even though she’s prefect for him - all fragile and good enough to beat him at Mario Kart, maybe she even has a channel of her own, probably something to do with make up or fashion - he’d be held back by their long distance relationship. Either he’d cheat or have to break up with her, and neither was an option as far as Jo would acknowledge or accept. “Breaking up over Skype is going to hurt a lot more, and you deserve better than that.”

Then, Dan got angry; Jo had never seen him angry before, not in a video or in real life. A small part of her was glad she was only hearing his heated tone. “Then don’t break up with me - not over Skype or text or anything, especially not over this _damn_ phone.”

“Dan, you and I both know I’m too stubborn to change my mind, so just stop it.” Why did he have to make this harder than Jo had imagined?

“But-“

“Daniel James Howell,” Jo interrupted, sounding severe. “Scream at me that you hate my guts for leaving you. Say you never want to hear from me again and hang up so I won’t cry at night missing you,” Jo said sounding on the verge of tears now.

Dan did hang up, but he didn’t say anything like Jo was begging him to say. He told her, “No”. 

If he was going to miss her, she was going to miss him, too.


	16. Back Across the Pond

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this makes up for that last chapter...

“Please, Jo,” he begged. “I want to take you out one last time.”

“Finn,” Jo said flopping back on to her bed. “I told you, I’m quitting actually having a social life.”

“Come off it – one drink won’t cancel your flight home.” Jo thought his voice sounded echo-y; maybe his mobile was acting up.

“Fine,” Jo finally caved. Trying to talk over Finn’s excitement, Jo gave a condition. “But, I’m home before midnight and you help me get to the airport on Sunday.”

“Deal,” Finn said with an audible smile. “Meet at the office?”

“If I have to pay for the tube, you’re paying for my drink,” Jo grumbled, rooting in what was left of her clothes to find something suitable of one last night out.

“See you soon, Jo,” Finn said before hanging up, not even giving Jo a chance to reply.

A Friday night out with Finn, two days before Jo was meant to start the near eight hour flight home. She had done a very good job of not thinking about what it took to get back to the states, but being faced with it again had Jo dreading it. Maybe she did need the drink.

The swaying of the tube almost put Jo to sleep, causing her to get off a stop late. To avoid anything similar happening on the way back, Jo took to the streets and doubled back. London was warming up - but just barely - so Jo didn't mind as much. The twins’ creative space finally rose before Jo as she began to feel the remaining cold seep into her finger tips.

It was nearly nine, so the building was empty and creeping Jo out. She hoped more lights would be on the closer she got to the twins’ office. The leaving café workers had a nasty habit of turning off the court lights. In the past, Jo had run through it, chased by imaginary hell hounds on more occasions than she cared to admit.

Jo not only found that the lights were on, but the space was packed. The court had long tables filled with sweets and stacks of pizza. A screen dropped from the second floor played a video Jo couldn’t here the audio for, and Jo froze in the opening archway. Overwhelmed at the festivities, she didn’t notice the crowd stop and turn to her. When she did notice, she was about to make a hasty apology and skitter through to find Finn. However, everyone called “Surprise!” and rushed to consume Jo in a massive group hug. Starting with Carrie and Louise.

To busy looking at the big picture, Jo had neglected to see that everyone she had met since arriving in London was at the party, from her Youtube friends to the other interns to the girls from Beck’s rowing club. The video they were playing was the first collab she had done with Chris; it was now on to the next one, a video she had put together with Carrie.

The group gave her enough room to finally breath and she asked Carrie, “Where the hell is Finn?”

“Jo! Up here!” Jo looked directly up to see Finn, Phil, and a person she couldn’t make out leaning over the railing opposite the screen and just above the group. “We’ll be right down!”

After they disappeared, it was explained to Jo this was a farewell party. The very night after The Call, Dan had sent out a group text.

“We changed it to here after Dan said it would have been easier to get you here,” Louise explained. “Isn’t Dan and Phil’s place closer to yours though?”

“It is, but,” Jo tried to find a way to explain it to Louise, she was, after all, close with both her and Dan. Her voice dropped so only Louise heard her. “But it would be awkward to hold a farewell party for an ex at your place.”

“But – oh…” Louise gave her another tight hug, nearly squeezing tears from Jo's eyes.

“Louise, not here,” Jo said patting her arm. “I wouldn’t be able to explain why I’m crying.”

“Crying? Who’s crying?” Finn had approached the group.

“No one,” Carrie jumped in, saving face. “But we’re all hungry; c’mon, now!.”

The four of them walked together to the food table, it was awash with foods Jo had come to enjoy while abroad as well as her favourites from America. How anyone had managed to create an illusive chocolate cigar pastry, Jo herself had no idea.

While in line for food, Jo was approached by everyone, wishing her well on the plane ride and good luck with various aspects of her life. Phil came up, accompanied by Dan and Jo nearly dropped her (sixth) slice of pizza on the table. Dan primarily hung back, while Phil talked seemingly for the both of them. Jo noticed he even used the royal ‘we’ a few times. Jo took it as a complement that Dan didn’t pull out his phone, as he had a tendency to do when he tried to hide from a conversation. When they left, Jo said goodbye to both of them. She tried not to think of how a small smile was shared between her and Dan.

If Jo thought the New Year's party at the arts center was exciting, she would need a stronger word for the party going on in her name. Someone had thrown a bunch of different colored dots on the ground to make a free-form Twister, someone had managed to throw some caption on the screen for her collars (there was no way to hear the videos above the dull roar of the party goers), and just the variety of people she had met made conversations soar.

She even had a nice chat with Creepy Harry – invited by Charly – and found out he was actually a little distressed the night of his birthday. His last girlfriend had gone and cheated on him. Jo felt sympathetic, as Harry seemed completely different now than he had, but she didn’t think that excused his flirtation, however bad it was. Still, she was pleasant and glad he had been invited to the party, seeing as his spontaneous invitation for her could have possibly been the event to start this all. So, she thanked him.

Jo was just beginning to wonder how long this party was planning on going when the twins stood in the middle of the court. “If we could have everyone’s attention,” Finn’s voice took command of the room. “We have a gift to present.”

From where ever the projector was located, the endless reel of every collab video Jo had done with near every member of the party stopped. A new video took it’s place.

“Hello, Internet!” Dan’s larger than life self called throughout the building.

“This is Jo,” Jack’s rowing narrative said.

“She’s a YouTuber,” Carrie said, clearly vlogging while running an errand.

“Maybe you know her, maybe you don’t,” Chris said jumping from one side of the screen to the other.

Finn and Jack sat on one of their couches in their office upstairs. “She’s going back to America in a week. And all of us – that’s Me, Finn, Dan, Phil, Carrie, Charly…” Jack and Finn continued to name all the people involved in the party’s planning.

“Thought it be a really good idea to throw her a party!” Phil said as his lion peeked over his shoulder.

Louise spoke from her bedroom floor. “That’s what we’re doing for her, because.”

"She is just awesome person and a total sweetheart," Carrie said from her bed.

“She has a genuine interest in everyone she meets,” Finn said before turning to his brother. “I think she asked you questions for like a half an hour when she first met you."

“Yeah, and she's really strong!" Jack threw a surprised look at the camera, musing the hair just above his left ear.

"Yeah,” Finn agreed. “She can pick us up and we’re massive compared to her." He spread his body out to illustrate his point and more or less knocked his brother off the couch.

Louis was vlogging in a foreign country as usual, except it wasn’t so foreign: the Washington Monument was in the back ground. "I only met her once, but I don't think I've ever met anyone who was more compassionate then Jo - except my mum, but she's is not my mum and she was just as caring."

"Jo is the personification of glitter. She is sparkly and happy and just the epitome of cool," Louise said using her hands far too much for Jo to see anything else.

“I basically saw her every other day, and I can confirm completely without a doubt, that she is one of the most hard working people I have ever met. And it’s a shame that she doesn’t get much back.” Jo wondered when Dan had filmed that clip. He sounded sincere, like he hadn’t been broken up with yet.

_Perfect timing, I just finished filming…_

The video ended with everyone saying “Subscribe”, finally ending with Jack and Finn on their couch.

“Subscribe,” Jack said.

“We promise, you won’t regret it,” Finn finished.

“Bye, guys,” the twins said. Jack made a reach for the camera before the screen went black.

“Now,” Jack said, as the video ended. “If I remember correctly, as of six o’clock tonight, JordantheBlonde had just over 750 subscribers.”

Jo couldn’t believe it. “What?”

“Wrong,” Louise cleared her throat and slide her laptop over to Jo. The screen showed Jo's channel with a massive redesign -courtesy of the Twins- and nearly 10,000 subscribers. 

Jo began to have a minor freak out. “What - how did you – You’re the best!”

Jo launched herself at Jack and trapped him in a massive hug. After thoroughly suffocating the one twin, she made a grab at the other, and finally skirted around the table and did her best to hug Louise as she sat. She thought that Dan looked sad she didn’t hug him, but she ignored that, if just for her own stability.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with all these people,” Jo looked at the computer screen, astonished. “What do you even do with that many subscribers?”

Jo was near tears, but she laughed at the chorus of voices that all held the same answer: Make videos.


	17. Wait, what?

It was a month after Jo’s farewell party when Phil announced, “I miss Jo.”

He and Dan were in their usual position of scrolling through the Internet in their lounge. Dan resisted saying, “Me, too” and instead said, “Go stalk her Twitter then.” After it left his mouth, he realized his initial answer might have been the better one.

Phil didn’t comment though. He did as Dan suggested. Not that Dan knew what her Facebook looked like or that she hadn’t tweeted anything since landing back at JFK International. Dan knew she wouldn’t mention it on her YouTube, so he didn’t bother, knowing the sound of her voice would just make him sad. He convinced himself that she was doing the same thing, checking up on his profiles to see if he was feeling the same way she felt. 

(Dan didn’t know he was right, except Jo was a bit more of a masochist when it came to watching his videos. They cheered her up while also making her slightly hollow, but then again, Dan would never know it.)

“Dan, you need to see this,” Phil said unexpectedly a half hour later.

“What?” Dan said distractedly.

Scooting across the couch, Phil turned his screen so Dan could see it. It was Jo’s channel as Finn had redesigned it. Her latest video queued and ready to play. “What am I supposed to be looking at?” Dan finally asked.

“That.” Phil was pointing at a video made nearly three weeks ago. It wasn’t the thumbnail, the length, or the amount of views that shocked Dan, but what the video was called: ‘Dan’s Little Things’

His face dropped and he excused himself to his room. Phil wondered if he would have done better by not pointing out the video.

Five minutes later, Dan was upstairs, debating whether it was socially acceptable for him to give any indication that he had watched this video.

None of his audience knew that Jo was his ex (it still felt weird to refer to her as an ex, but what can you do?), so he could easily share it as if he liked what this fan had made. But Jo would know. 

He and Jo both agreed to keep their relationship a secret. He was glad that she wouldn’t have had to deal with hate for breaking up with him, but he now saw why she was always taking pictures while they were out with friends. With nothing tangible to look back on, did he imagine the last three months? He didn’t take any photos of them, of just Jo, and he couldn’t stand the looks of pity that his friends would give him if he asked for one they had taken. He also dare not save any off her Facebook; it was just weird.

The video (his proof) had Jo still in her flat, still in London.

He hit play again.

“Hey, guys! Jo here. I’m sorry I haven’t been posting any videos, but I’ve actually been social. You’re just as surprised as I am. My assimilation into British culture may have been more extensive then I had anticipated.” Dan cracked a smile at this, knowing exactly what she meant.

“Basically I met - and consequently got to know - Danisnotonfire, along with all his British YouTuber friends. I actually filmed a lot of collars with them, I just haven’t had time to edit them. Whoops. But the ones we’ve shot for their channels are up and ready for viewing.”

Jo gestured to the side of the screen where several annotations boasted the names of YouTubers she had filmed with. Snug in the middle was a video she had shot with Dan and Phil. They had called it ‘Phil is not blonde’ when Dan and Phil taught Jo how to play a game out of the Sonic line and Jo taught the two of them to waltz.

“During my time spent with that lot, I learned some very adorkable things that basically humanized Dan more than what he’s chosen to show the Internet, which made it very easy for me NOT to be starstuck. I’ve made a list of them, and I’m calling them ‘Dan’s Little Things’.

1\. Dan constantly runs into the glass door when he enters his kitchen. The one time he didn’t, he promptly tripped over an open drawer.

2\. He isn’t grossed out by my knuckles cracking…or my hips…or my shoulders…I pop a lot, but so does Dan so he’s cool with it.

3\. He is completely oblivious to when things are about to fall or spill over a bowl or a mug, leading to a lot of stains and spilled cereal.

4\. The only bit of color he’ll wear must be a galaxy shirt, something of Phil’s he has stolen, or something given to him he’ll keep.

5\. If you’ve had lunch or coffee with him somewhere, the next time he goes there, he _has_ to try what ever it was that you got, just to see if it was as good as he thought it looked.

6\. Troye Sivan’s song _The Fault in Out Stars_ reduces him to tears every time. Every time.

7\. He can’t dance in a club, but he can dance in a ballroom…well, if that ball room is his kitchen and you lead – what I’m trying to say is for how clumsy he is, Dan does not have two left feet.

8\. I have never experienced a room physically brighten because of someone’s smile, Dan has given me that experience many a time.

9\. He is unintentionally sweet, like when he brings you little snacks because he was bored, will always know when you’re cold, and thinking out plans to meet up with your schedule in mind, even though you’ve forgotten you have somewhere to be at four.

10\. Even though he claims to be the most awkward person, he’s an awesome cuddler.

That’s pretty much everything I can fit into a three minute video, but if you really want to know some more, comment below. As always, I love you all, Laters!” Jo’s smiling face and double peace sign stayed on the screen until links to related videos replaced her.

The one in the corner was Jo’s next video: 'London as Seen by Me'.

Dan clicked on it, expecting hidden vlogs she had taken in between classes and at the various tourist sights she had visited her last day with Carrie and Louise. Instead, Dan got Jo sitting against a wooden post, water in the back ground and Jo looking entirely too warm to be sitting anywhere remotely near London in the past three months.

“Hey, guys, Jo here. I’m at my boat house right now, but we’re having some minor engine trouble in the commuter vans, so we’re stuck here for a while. I thought I’d actually sum up my trip to London instead of sending you to my various social media accounts to scroll through it all.”

Jo told her viewers why she had gone to the UK, specifically about the internship and the people she met there. Apparently, she was still in contact with a boy named Benjamin. Dan didn’t see why he didn’t go by Ben, it just seemed so pretentious of him. There was a point in the video where Dan was sure she was going to reveal their relationship, but she continued to keep it a secret from their audiences, even after the break up.

Dan wasn’t exactly treating it like a break up though. He didn’t try to talk to her, and he didn’t know how she was handling it – even if he thought this Benjamin bloke was helping. Dan was still going about his normal routine. Once he thought he was about to acknowledge that he was no longer in a relationship, but it just sent him into another existential crisis. Although this one was more centered around the pointlessness of relationships so he assumed he was making progress.

Jo finished up the video with a somewhat teary explanation of why she was deported. She tried to make a joke and say being deported could now be check off her bucket list, but even she didn’t laugh.

“Everyone I had met over there, all the vloggers and the interns, threw me a party at Jack’s creative space. Since every other renter in the building leaves at six, there was a big open space for them to set up games and food and they even projected all of our collab videos on to one wall.” Jo wiped underneath her eye. “They even made this one video, one that I had no idea about, where everyone gave a reason that they loved me and why they would miss me. And a message to their subscribers saying why they should subscribe to ME. It was, well, it is the BEST confidence boost I have ever received. You know, getting complimented by all these people that I could only hope to be, that I’ve admired for so long.”

The cut jumped to Jo taking her head out of her one free hand. “I watch that video before every race, you know. That video is my good luck charm, and ever since, I haven’t gotten anything less than first.” What ever Jo was feeling at this moment, Dan wanted to bottle up and save it for a rainy day because lighting strike him if she didn’t look the happiest he had ever seen her.

“If you want something more visual, more exciting,” Jo said breaking the stretch of silence. “I suggest you give me a follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr and if you check out my profile, I tagged everything I shot or talked about during my study abroad with the tag #JOUK.” Links to each of her accounts popped up next to her head. “Well, it looks like they got a bus to take us home, so that’s all for now. Remember, I love you guys. Laters!”

It would probably hurt Dan in the long run, but he went through Jo’s tag. He hadn’t really understood what it was, having seen it after some of her posts. Having now watched the video and heard her explain it, he was able to see what all those pictures and random thoughts had gotten her.

Dan didn’t bother trying to comb through her Twitter, and he saw all the photos she had on Facebook because he was tagged in half of them. He did like one photo, hidden between photos of the view from Jo’s flat and a far away photo of the London Eye. It was the only public photo of their relationship. Jo was on Dan’s chest as he awkwardly puts his head on her shoulder because he thought he wasn’t in the shot. It was taken two days after Jo’s birthday. The only comments were about her photoshop skills.

Dan liked Jo’s Instagram much better.

True to her video, Jo hadn’t gotten anything except first in the past four of her races, all posted.

The last one with her #JOUK tag, however, was of Carrie, Louise, and her sitting on one of those double decker buses (it was also Jo’s Facebook cover photo).

Dan continued to scroll through her profile, seeing her journey in London unfold in reverse chronological order.

There was one of Benedict Cumberbatch doing his butt heart thing and a an explanation that she had to get permission from the director to even post it before the next series came out.

Louise and Zoe each did half of Jo’s face, the different make up making her look totally bizarre.

Photo of a girl and that boy, Benjamin, arm wrestling with the latter loosing sorely.

The photo after Jo had claimed she could hold Dan. His bum duly ached in the memory having been dropped; he didn’t understand how much bruising could form from the two foot drop.

A _Mario Kart_ results screen with her lagging six places behind Dan and Phil, who got third and second respectively.

A snipe of one of her classmates, a girl named Beck who had helped the twins pull off the rowing video.

A screen shot of her and Louis FaceTiming from his hotel in Brazil, both holding pens between their upper lips and noses like a faux moustache.

The fruity drink she had gotten with Finn every so often made an appearance. Dan chuckled at the comments asking if it had any alcohol and Jo having to explain the laws about drinking in the UK.

A selfie of her falling asleep, apparently in her history class...and then getting kicked out. She didn’t seem sorry at all.

A series of photos from an event at the rowing club they had visited (her description said was a 'regatta'). She had gone before she had ever gotten home sick. Dan wondered if THAT was why she seemed so comfortable at the boat house. At the time, he had assumed that was just a rower thing.

One of her apartment right after she had gotten in for the first time. It was not posted until a week and half after arrival, when someone asked for it.

The last one (technically the first one) with the tag was a picture of a Shake Away cup. ‘Cake batter and Oreos’ and a heart eye emoji was the caption. A bubble of laughter escaped Dan when he realized it must have been what she had gotten after they literally ran into each other.

Dan wasn’t sure how he felt about the cup, if he should feel anything towards it. On the one hand, without each of their cravings to randomly get ice cream in the dead of winter, he wouldn’t even know Jo existed. On the other, it was just a strange fan meeting until Harry had invited her to the pub.

He finally decided that without the run in, Dan would not have thought anything of the random American girl at Harry’s birthday and any further interaction would've gone drastically different if they had continued to interact at all. Dan knew without Shake Away, there might not have been a Jo in his life. 

Dan also knew the next time he went to Shake Away, he would be getting a cake batter and Oreo milkshake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was actually was supposed to end here. 
> 
> Then, I had 30 more minutes in the car and I wrote the next chapter. I thought I'd let y'all know that if you like your fics to have bit more a bittersweet end. 
> 
> BUT if you're like me and like happy endings, then fear not! Things get less melancholy in my next update. Looking forward to it!


	18. Epilogue: Vidcon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I explained in the notes of last chapter, if you like your fics to be a little less happy, you can totally stop reading here. Seriously, it was my original intention to end it there, I won't be mad.
> 
> Still, this chapter you get your happy ending and it makes me really happy to read so enjoy the fluffiness!

“Hey, guys, Jo here. Just in case anybody cares, I just got recognized. Like someone actually recognized me and freaked out. That just happened.” 

Jo was walking into a very crowded lobby of a very nice convention center in Anaheim. It was Vidcon, the first one Jo had ever been able to attend. She was still very much unknown (her subscriber count almost at 12,000), but immediately upon entering the convention center she was recognized by a group of tweens and their mother. 

Jo had picked up a program the previous day and spent the entire night picking out which panels she wanted to attend. There was one for film makers, one for daily vloggers, and even one for those who were overwhelmed with a growing subscriber count (which Jo thought was a Godsend). There were a lot more going on throughout the days Vidcon spanned, but there was one on the very first day that she was eager to attend: International Vlogging. There were her favorites, but also some friends; Lily Singh, Troye Sivan, Louis Cole, and of course the people she had actually met like Louise and the Twins. She tried not to think too much about how Dan and Phil would also be there. 

It had been two years since her deportation. After a while, Jo felt less and less weird about her return to just being a fan of Dan’s. Outside of her immediate friend group, nobody knew about her and Dan. She hadn’t told her parents, for fear that they would laugh or call her delusional. The two settled into a nice online relationship of occasionally commenting or liking a Facebook photo or favoriting a tweet or Instagram photo. #TeamInternat and all. 

Towards the end of the first day of Vidcon the international vlogging panel was setting up in a larger than expected conference hall. Jo’s prior experience with conventions was limited to journalism events, but one thing Jo noticed was immediately and strikingly different from the other exhibitions she had attended that day: the panel opened with a Q&A. A lined formed down the left isle of people who had questions. Jo stashed her bag and jacket under her seat and slipped in the line before the convention officials started to turn the people away.

Before Jo, people mainly asked questions to Lily and Louis, as they had done the most traveling and it appeared most of the people in the room either were travelers themselves or wanted to travel but couldn’t for whatever reason. Everyone else on the panel generally looked down at the table or fiddled with their microphone. In fact, the first question to anyone specific out side of those last two came from Jo. “Dan, have you heard from JordanTheBlonde since she came back?” 

Dan had looked up to the audience after initially being startled at the mention of his name. “Who? Jo? I mean, I’ve heard from her, but not very often; she’s very busy with uni and her rowing team and other things. But yeah, we generally like to catch up every once in a while. When we do talk, it’s nice to hear from her.” 

“Like now?” Jo asked bending back to the mic.

Dan had looked away from the back of the room (where he confessed to look each time he was on a panel). His confused look melted when he saw Jo. He didn’t make a sound, but her name was clearly on his lips.

He was up, knocking his chair back and nearly tripping over the tangle of mic wires he had nearly disconnected earlier in his infinite coordination. Jo was only able to get a few feet ahead of the mic when they crashed into one another. Dan consequently got knocked backwards a few feet, but he quickly recovered. Jo smiled more intensely than when she won a race, because Dan is here and he’s real again. 

Jo supposed they looked quite odd, with Dan now only a half foot taller than her (Jo had grown two inches since they had last seen each other – score!) and doing his best to wrap himself around her, but she didn’t care. 

They embraced way longer than should have been allowed, but eventually one of the officials tapped Dan on the shoulder and told him the panel had to go on. His grip on Jo tightened briefly, before letting go and taking her hand to lead her on stage. They got a grumpy frown from the security people, but there really wasn’t a logical objection to what Dan was doing. Plus, there was some enthusiastic cheering from the crowd, obviously the blonde girl was not just any fan. 

There was a shuffling among the people already seated on the stage; Jo didn’t have anywhere to sit. Awkwardly and publicly, Jo and Dan exchanged a look that pretty much conveyed the same idea: Jo could not, under any circumstances, sit on his lap.

If there’s a phrase for feeling like your actions had the equivalent effect of the saying “sticking my foot in my mouth”, then this would be the time to use it, because Jo did was she always did. Which was stick her foot in her mouth. Except it wasn’t so much in words as in actions: she sat on the ground. 

There was a little moment of silence before one of the other panel members – Phil – slid to the ground, too.

“Well, I don’t want her to be alone,” Phil said in response to the murmur of giggling. 

Dan then joined the pair, saying into his mic, “I guess that means I should probably do that, too.”

It took not even 30 seconds before the entire panel had slid onto the ground. Mostly unnamed faces, but among those sitting in the now semi circle (the chairs had been arranged in a line) were not only Dan and Phil, but Zoe, Louise, Louis, Jack, and Finn along with some other vloggers she watched like Troye Sivan and Lily Singh. There were perhaps one or two she couldn't name. She gave a big albeit nervous smile to all of them.

After a short while Jo began to question why Dan had brought her up there, she had no talking points, she didn’t know how to behave on a panel; there really was no reason for her being there. She just sat there, worrying someone was going to pick up her back pack as their own, and leaning on Dan. Jo pokes him every so often because, well, she’s bored, is that a crime? 

Who ever is the con appointed person to keep the event running smoothly starts speaking in a tone of voice that sounds and awful lot like a good bye, when Phil interrupts him. “But they didn’t get to ask Jo any questions.”

Jo began to shake her head, tell him it’s fine, that she didn’t have anything to say that they didn’t already cover, that she wasn’t actually on the panel, but Zoe and the twins had begun to chant her name. “Jo, Jo, Jo.” The chant was taken up by the other panel members and briefly the audience before the officials allowed her a few questions.

They didn’t have time for a line to form, so Jo just pointed out into the crowd, using Dan’s microphone to answer.

“Is vlogging culture different in America versus London?” asked a gawky teenage boy who sat ten rows back.

“’Vlogging culture’, you make it sound so sophisticated,” Jo mocked, looking to Dan. Dan grinned and knocked his head into her shoulder. 

“No, there really isn’t anything different about the culture, for me it was just the people I was around. In Virginia, I was the only YouTuber; my parents didn’t understand why I always had to bring my camera and my friends never wanted to be on camera, so vlogging is hard when you’re surrounded by people that make you feel insecure and weird about it. In London, I got to hang out with Dan” – there was a whoop from somewhere in the right of the crowd – “and a whole group of people who are not only on camera but put themselves there of their own accord, so they weren’t afraid of what little video I took.”

A girl that closely resembled a chipmunk with a camera slung around her neck asked Jo what her internship was for and what she did.

“I was granted an opportunity to work for a BBC production that based itself close enough to my study abroad school that I could attend.” Jo explained how she organized the social media releases for the show Orphan Black (which had since been taken off the air while one of the main stars filmed a movie in Norway). “I was hoping for something more to do with the actually film process, but that would have meant traveling to their film lots or where ever they needed to film on location. I couldn’t do that and go to school.”

“There was that one time you went on set,” Dan offered.

“Oh, right,” Zoe’s voiced echoed from the other side of the circle. “How was that?”

“Cold.” Jo answered simply. “I was up in Manchester; I didn’t even care that I was on the filming of Doctor Who or that I met Benedict Cumerbatch - I just wanted to get back to my warm flat.”

“You met Benedict Cumberbatch?” Troye asked, his Aussie accent doing weird things to the actor’s name.

Jo nodded, a little shocked to be addressed first by a Youtuber.

A meek looking, tween girl asked Jo, “Do you still row?”

“No, I had to quit my junior year of university; it got in the way of my degree,” Jo explained, clearly disappointed. “It sucks because all the strength I gained is slowly leaving.”

“How strong are you?” asked the same girl.

Rather than answering, Jo hopped to her feet, straightened her shirt and then turned the man who sat beside her. “Dan, if you would?”

He was already scooting backwards and away from the girl who now towered over him. “No, don’t make me,” Dan’s plea could be heard from the back row. There was playful light in his eyes, though.

“I promise I won’t drop you this time!” Jo objected, an equally playful smile on her lips.

She pulled Dan unwillingly to his feet and allowed him a moment before dipping and scooping him up bridal style. He clutched her neck and shoulder in fear of the not even three foot drop as the sound of a roomful of camera shutters went off. Jo struggled a bit more than she had a few years prior.

“I’ll be seeing this online, aren’t I?” Jo asked Dan through her ridiculously big smile. 

“I’ll tell you what: that’s going to be my new phone back ground,” Louise said into her mic, looking up and admiring what she would easily call her real life OTP. (She had taken her own photo and would later show Jo the close up of Dan and Jo’s laughing smiles as her lock screen for the duration of Vidcon.)

Jo nearly did a double take when she thought the next person was her room mate, until she remembered that Corinne was currently on her honey moon in Milan. “What is your favorite American store and your favorite British store?” asked the short girl.

“My favorite shop here is definitely American Eagle, as it is the entirety of my wardrobe,” Jo answered easy enough. “If there was one anywhere near my flat, I didn’t know about it, so my favorite store in London was called ‘The Cat’s Cradle’, and it had all sort of old books, that you were allowed to just sit and read. Well, if you could stand all the cats they had running around. It was just an interesting trinket shop that you could lose yourself in for an after noon. The woman that ran the shop was from Barcelona, and she called me Rubita – ‘little blonde one’ – not unlike what they call me at my local America Eagle, which is Blondie.”

“Why did you start Youtube?” Jo surveyed the next girl up and down, she looked to be the same age Jo had been when she started her channel, albeit much prettier.

“I was inspired by this one,” Jo said, grabbing on to Dan’s short sleeve shirt. “And those two smexy beasts, the ones that bought me alcohol.” Jo had pointed across the circle to Jack and Finn.

While Jack laughed, Finn raised his mic from his lap and said, “She absolutely loves melon daiquiris, bee-tee-dubs.”

“THAT’S what those were?” Jo asked incredulously.

A parent whose race Jo could not make out asked her how her study abroad impacted her.

“Before she answers,” Louis spoke up. “I’d like to say that she impacted her stay abroad, if anything. I only met her once in person, but we had no trouble becoming friends over the Internet, and dare I say she affected everyone on _this_ side of the panel.” Louis made a cutting motion from himself to the very left of the seated semi-circle. 

“You’re so right,” Jo saw Jack mouth to the man beside him.

“You guys are going to make me cry,” Jo told them. Honestly, they were the sweetest, especially Louis who, two years prior, offered to stay in DC until Jo had landed (she wouldn’t hear of delaying his trip and had urged him on to Chicago). “I think it did impact me, I really didn’t learn anything in the classroom that I couldn’t have gotten here, but the people I met and just the experience I was given by traveling so far from home – I just learned a lot about people. And the internship was an amazing opportunity; I was incredibly lucky the two were available to me.”

“What was your favorite memory from your stay?” asked a college age kid who was the definition of a hipster.

“Well, the only one that I’ve been able to remember consistently is when I got terribly homesick so I went over to Dan and Phil’s apartment,” Jo said, refusing to acknowledge the look Dan was giving her. “I kinda forced them to hang out with me. I stayed the night at their house just trying to remind myself that I wasn’t alone. Specifically, when we were all sitting at the table, easting cereal as some sort of late diner; i-it just felt like home.” There were a few scattered ‘awww’s.

“You didn’t force yourself on us,” Dan was quick to reassure her, hearing that she had felt the same way about that night as he had.

“She didn’t strangle you!” Phil protested, ruining what could have been a very sweet moment. The audience howled.

A girl wearing an old-old Dan and Phil shirt from Hot Topic asked what Jo liked most about Dan and Phil’s appearance. 

While thinking that her question had no valuable information whatsoever, Jo answered truthfully. “For Dan, it’s a toss up between his dimples or his Hhobbit hair.”

“You like his hobbit hair?” Louise butted in.

“Of course, I do.” Jo remembered the one day she had showed up to his apartment on one of his existential crisis days when he hadn’t gotten out of bed. He was all grumpy and bit distant, but Jo remembered how adorable he looked when she finally got him to the table for breakfast (really lunch). It almost made up for how annoying his pointless babble was.

“You’re the only one that actually likes the hair,” Dan said in a mock condescending tone.

The crowd went into an uproar; she was definitely not the only fan of Dan’s out of character, un-styled hair.

“And Phil’s eyes are very pretty,” Jo same quietly once the noise died.

Phil folded his hands under his chin, “I feel so loved.”

Next, a very obvious fangirl, asked Jo: “If you could change one thing about Dan what would it be?”

“Well…” Jo began.

“Oh, no,” Dan said audibly terrified.

Ignoring him, Jo said, “As you may know, I made a video immediately following my return from the UK called ‘Dan’s Little Things’.” Jo paused for dramatic effect. “I wouldn’t change a thing on that list.” The crowd sighed collectively. “His pancake butt was not on that list.” 

The crowd giggled.

“You would change my butt?” Dan said, not expecting that answer. “Sorry, I’m not Chris Evans,” he waved his hand in mock apology. More laughter.

“No, not your butt,” Jo told him stealing the mic back. “Just that fact your pants don’t cover it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shifting his entire body to face Jo.

“Are we going to have a lovers’ quarrel?” Jack asked from the end of the line.

“Pull. Your. Pants. Up.” Jo chanted, smacking her first to the stage as punctuation, completely missing that Jack may have just confirmed hundreds of fangirls’ theory that the two had dated. She might get mad later.

“NEVER!” Dan yelled while doing his best Sherlock impression (read: he scrunched his neck up and tried his best to look like an otter).

After the laughter at Dan’s expression died down, the mic was handed to a girl who was the speaker for a whole group of near identical girls. “We wanna know if you ship YouTubers. And did you hang out with any of your ships?”

“Unless they are actually in a romantic relationship, I don’t really ship real people romantically, but I am so grateful for friendships on YouTube, like canon relationships. These two,” She said, looking between Dan on her left and Phil on her right. “Are BrOTP _for lyfe_.” The group of girls squealed. Jo could feel Dan and Phil exchange looks behind her back. Jo felt the need to explain, lest their look be one of concern. “Because they have such an amazing friendship; it’s hard to believe they haven’t known each other since grade school.”

A girl next to the one holding the mic stood impulsively and grabbed the mic from her friend. “You, Dan, and Phil are my OT3.”

Most the panel members looked around confused, but Jo buried her head in Dan’s shoulder to hide her massive blush. It was a extremely flattering complement…of sorts.

After the excited chatter died down and Jo removed herself from Dan’s t-shirt, a chubby boy with glasses in the first row then asked, “Are you and Dan getting back together?”

“Back together?” Jo echoed.

“For another collab,” the fan clarified. “’Dan is not Blonde’ is my favorite video of yours and ‘Jo is not on fire’ is my favorite of Dan’s.”

“I hope so,” Dan said answering for her. “I had a lot of fun.”

Jo just nodded.

They closed out the panel when everyone on stage was invited back into the room they had come out of, Jo was pulled by Dan, until she said she had left her bag and other things under her chair. Jo felt her ears burn as she had to race down the isle and past people to grab her possesions. Dan waited at the door for her, under the scrutinizing glare of the same con employ that had eyed him when he brought Jo on stage.

The second Jo walked through the door, her stuff was torn from her hands as she was attacked by her friends on the panel. For how little she is Zoe managed to knock the air from Jo’s lungs and the twins smothered her from either side. In their time apart, nobody had lost any hyper activity. Louise had saved her self over in the corner and only approached once Jo was released. She deserved her own hug for helping Jo through the night after she admitted to breaking up with Dan, when it hit her that she had actually done it.

Once Jo stopped hugging Louise, she joined Dan on a couch occupied by him, Louis, and Troye – though Troye seemed to be more concerned with the wall outlet and his charger than those he was siting with. Phil sat next to the couch on a piece of furniture that Jo couldn’t tell if it was an ottoman or a backless chair. Maybe both. 

“So,” Louis began. “What have you been up to? I haven’t been able to keep up with you like Dan.”

Jo giggled and Dan laughed uncomfortably; they hadn’t talked since May, and that consisted of Dan saying hello and Jo’s room mate sending back a photo of Jo passed out at her desk with the caption ‘Finals’. Not much talking going on otherwise.

Jo felt a vague sense of familiarity when she sat in the green room with people asking her all sorts of questions. If she could have taken a step outside her self, the scene probably would have looked very bizarre. Everyone on the panel members came and went but everyone at some point joined in the conversation.

As it turns out, Jo, initially, lost half of the fan base she had gained from her friends’ video after posting a few of her own. Then, she suddenly was gaining at a pretty regular interval, only tapering off in the last month.

Out side of YouTube, she had found work with an independent film company monitor their social media for all of their projects. Lily interjected into the conversation at that point to balk at the sheer number that were in the works. When she mentioned the company’s location – downtown Richmond – Phil asked Jo if that was where she lived now.

“Oh, no, I actually live in Huntington Park,” Jo corrected. “About 40 minutes away from here,.”

 _Forty minutes away?_ “Does that mean we can go to your apartment?” Dan asked.

Jo shrugged “If you don’t have anywhere to be.”

“We should go there,” Phil announced getting up from his seat. “It’ll be much nicer than our hotel room.”

“That’s true,” Dan agreed, nodding his head toward Phil.

“Well,” Jo began. “I don’t think I have anything to host guests, but then again you guys never did, so why not?”

Jo jumped up from the couch and lead the way out the door before the boys could follow. “You know,” Jo said once they began to catch up. “If you want to invite anyone else, you should.”

Dan took out his phone and began to fake texting. “Getting’ wild at Jo’s. BYOB.” 

“You’re hilarious,” Jo told him with a roll of her eyes.

In all seriousness, Dan did send out a mass text (including Jo herself, so she was informed) inviting people from the con to a small get together. Jo furthered the conversation with her address and a request to bring food and drinks before hitting the button on her keys to unlock the doors. There was a small collision with Dan as he made for the driver’s side. An argument over which country drove on the wrong side of the road and which had the steering wheel on the right side of the car took up the entire drive.

“Isn’t this kind of on the other side of the country?” Dan asked, as Jo cut the engine. “From your home, I mean.”

“I’ve only been living here two months, Dan. I handled being in another country better than I expected and for much longer. Plus, there are more YouTubers out here…”

Jo’s apartment was a bit more of a town house that was painting a sort of pinkish brown, the Painted Dame, Jo called it (she was the only one who thought it funny).

People began to arrive about 20 minutes later. She eagerly greeted her friends and those they brought along and offered them seats to rest from their somewhat hefty trip. Jo nearly gasped when she saw Louis lug a full grown watermelon up her front steps and rushed to help him; Dan and Louise chuckled from a window when Jo carried it effortlessly to the door as Louis followed her and stretched his fingers.

It was a party, albeit a small one. All levels of her home had different dynamics from the serious conversations in the attic to the drunken and slightly offensive giggling in her basement. Jo enjoyed the intimacy, if for the fact everyone was being responsible and not absolutely trashing her house. The messiest place by far was her kitchen and that was because some one named Tom was attempting to bake a cake solely from things people brought for their quasi-potluck.

With a warning to not burn down the place, Jo returned to her living room where her stash of board games had been found and promptly broken into. Jo found Dan, Louise, Carrie, Chris, and someone who looked like Troye Sivan and Finn Harries had a very ugly baby were playing Apples to Apples, but doing their best to turn it into Cards Against Humanity.

Jo plopped down on her couch a moment after Dan won the final round with a card having something to do with a jab at the American education system. The game dissolved quickly dissolved after that with Phil, Carrie, and the Finn-Troye hybrid going for more food and the others joining a new game of Twister with several faces she had only previously seen on YouTube.

Jo watched the funny scene as people she grew up admiring becoming entangled with one another on a Twister mat that had seen better days. It was one of those moments of indescribable happiness. 

Suddenly, Dan spoke up beside her. “Why don’t you come back to London?”

THAT got Jo’s attention. “With you?”

“It doesn’t HAVE to be with me,” Dan said studying and fiddling with the lip of his cup. “But everyone misses you and you said that you could work from just about anywhere. Even if you couldn’t, I’m sure BBC would give you a job.” Dan was burying himself in an excessive amount of words, something he had picked up from Jo.

Jo tapped under Dan’s chin to get him to look her in the eyes. “Dan, do you want me back in London?”

“Yes, alright, I do.” He closed his eyes briefly before opening his left with caution, like he was expecting to be slapped. Seeing a slap (or even another bruise) was not in his future, he straightened himself on the couch before saying, “I want you back home.”

Jo couldn’t stop her smile if she tried. “Home sounds nice.”

They continued to awkwardly smile and giggle at each other until Jo rose from the couch to take care of some allegedly spilled Fanta in her kitchen. Dan recognized an escape when he saw one, but he waved her off and watched as the whole of the twister game took a fall because of the last stupid yellow dot

Six months later, Jo made a post to Instagram. She’s lying on Dan’s chest as he scrunches into the selfie. The caption reads: “Finally settled into the new flat - no thanks to this barmpot. #Goodtobehome”

Jo is able to return to the UK because of a job with BBC, again working on the social media team for a show called _Westminster Magic_ , a reality show that follows street magicians and those who ‘deal with the supernatural’. 

After two years, Jo and Dan will move in together, the same time Phil moves into a house with his fiancée, a girl from the radio station named Gloria. 

Jo and Dan are comfortable and easy going couple. In fact, the only fight detrimental to their relationship is when Jo’s work permit is set to expire. Jo is sent into a spiral and begins to push Dan away. He gets angry and says it’s just like when she got deported. It takes a lot, but Dan gets through to her.

Jo applies for Indefinite Leave to Remain and the year after for citizenship. After her citizenship is approved, Dan takes her out for a celebratory treat. He insists it be a surprise. 

The night ends with a ring around a straw to a cake batter and Oreo milkshake from Shake Away, the same one where they first rammed into each other. Jo ends up dropping the ring in her haste to get it off the straw. She smacks her head with Dan’s as they both make a grab for it. If you were to walk past the two, you would wonder how they weren’t in an asylum for how much they were laughing, because of course they would mutually fuck up one of the most significant moments of their relationship. 

And Phil has it on video. Cheeky bastard.


End file.
